Manley Labs Stereo Equalizer Manley Massive Passive Stereo Tube Equalizer User Manual

OWNER'S MANUAL

MANLEY

MASSIVE PASSIVE

STEREO TUBE EQ

MANLEY

LABORATORIES, INC.

MANLEY LABORATORIES, INC.

13880 MAGNOLIA AVE.

CHINO, CA. 91710

TEL: (909) 627-4256

FAX: (909) 628-2482

http://www.manleylabs.com

email: emanley @ manleylabs.com

email: service @ manleylabs.com

Rev. MSMPXxxxx

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

INTRODUCTION

THANK YOU!...

for choosing the Manley MASSIVE PASSIVE STEREO TUBE EQUALIZER. This EQ is supposed

tobesomewhatdifferentfromanyEQyoumayhaveusedbefore,aswell,thismanualmaybeabitunusual

in that you may find it worthwhile to read. Even though at first glance the Massive Passive looks fairly

conventional, youshouldtakeanhourandreadthismanualbeforeyoujumptoconclusionsorconfusions.

The usual stuff like precautions, hook-up instructions, and operational information is here but also

explanationsabouthowandwhythisisanunusualanimalandhintsofhowyoumayfinddifferentsettings

than you are used to being the key to getting the most out of this box. There is even a little section of EQ

hints or techniques for those who may find that info useful.

AsyouusethisEQ,probablyanumberofdescriptivewordsmaycometoyou.Ithasbeencalled"organic",

"natural", "smooth", "liquid", "powerful", "sweet", and "the mother of all EQs". There is no single reason

whyitsoundsthewayitdoesbutmoreofasynergyoftheadvantages ofpassiveEQ, theparalleltopology,

the tube/transformer amplifiers, the unique shelves and, of course, Manley's construction style and use

of premium components. Like the Manley Variable MU, we have found the Massive Passive can easily

make anything sound better. Perhaps the combination of the "Vari-MU" and the "Passivo" is the killer

combinationformusic.Youmayfindyourselfusingiteverything.Anygearthatyouprefertouseonevery

sound is a sure sign you bought the right piece.

The Massive Passive is intended as an EQ platform and in the future should offer some interesting custom

options. At some point we expect to offer other EQ cards that can replace some of the passive cards for

particular needs and special applications.

GENERAL NOTES

LOCATION & VENTILATION

The Manley MASSIVE PASSIVE must be installed in a stable location with ample ventilation. It is

recommended, if this unit is rack mounted, that you allow enough clearance on the top of the unit such

that a constant flow of air can move through the ventilation holes. Airflow is primarily through the back

panel vents and out through the top.

You should also not mount the Massive Passive where there is likely to be strong magnetic fields such

as directly over or under power amplifiers or large power consuming devices. The other gear's fuse values

tendtogiveahintofwhetheritdrawsmajorpowerandislikelytocreateabiggermagneticfield. Magnetic

fields might cause a hum in the EQ and occasionally you may need to experiment with placement in the

rack to eliminate the hum. In most situations it should be quiet and trouble free.

WATER & MOISTURE

As with any electrical equipment, this equipment should not be used near water or moisture.

SERVICING

The user should not attempt to service this unit beyond that described in the owner's manual.

Refer all servicing to your dealer or Manley Laboratories. The factory technicians are available for

questions by phone (909) 627-4256 or by email at <[email protected]>. Fill in your warranty

card! Check the manual - Your question is probably anticipated and answered within these pages......

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

THE BACK PANEL

MANLEY LABORATORIES

13880 MAGNOLIA AVE., CHINO, CA 91710

PHONE (909) 627-4256 FAX (909) 628-2482

email: [email protected]

AN EVEANNA MANLEY PRODUCTION

CHANNEL 2

CHANNEL 1

BALANCED INPUT

IMPEDANCE 20K OHM NOMINAL

BALANCED INPUT

SERIAL NUMBER

BALANCED or

UNBAL INPUT

+4dBu /-10 dBv

BALANCED or

UNBAL INPUT

+4dBu -10 dBv

WHEN RACK MOUNTING:

LEAVE SPACE FOR

BALANCED OR UNBALANCED INPUT

UNBALANCED 1/4" OUTPUTS

VENTILATION AND FOR

MAGNETIC FIELDS FROM

OTHER EQUIPMENT TO

SHIELD

GROUND

HOT

LOW

POSITIVE PHASE

NEGATIVE PHASE

SLEEVE

TIP HOT

RING LOW OR GROUND

SHIELD

GROUND

SIGNAL POSITIVE

TRANSFORMER BALANCEDOUTS

AVOID HUM PICK-UP

BALANCED OUTPUT

REPLACE FUSE

WITH SAME

TYPE AND

RATING

UNBALANCED

ONLY OUTPUT

UNBALANCED

ONLY OUTPUT

+4 dBu

-10dBv

+4dBu / -10dBv

POWER

CIRCUIT

GROUND

CHASSIS

CAUTION - RISK OF ELECTRIC

SHOCK. DO NOT OPEN.

REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED

PERSONNEL ONLY

REFER TO OWNERS MANUAL

FOR SWITCHING THIS UNIT

FOR -10dBv SIGNAL LEVELS

TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC

SHOCK DO NOT EXPOSE THIS

EQUIPMENT TO RAIN OR MOISTURE

First connect all the cables, then turn on the power, wait 30 seconds, then have fun, as if we had to tell you....

1) POWER CONNECTOR. First verify the POWER SWITCH on the front panel is off (CCW). Use the power cable supplied with your

Massive Passive. One end goes here and the other end goes to the wall outlet. You know all this.

2) VOLTAGE LABEL (ON SERIAL STICKER). Just check that it indicates the same voltage as is normal in your country. It should

be. If it says 120V and your country is 220V, then call your dealer up. If it says 120V and you expect 110 it should work fine.

3) FUSE. Unplug the power cable first. The Fuse Cap needs a push then turn a quarter twist CCW to pull off. Fuses are meant to "blow"

when an electrical problem occurs and is essentially a safety device to prevent fires, shocks and big repair bills. Only replace it if it has

"blown" and only with the same value and type (2A slow-blow for 120V, 1A slow-blow for 220V). A blown fuse either looks blackened

internally or the little wire inside looks broken. A blown fuse will prevent all the LEDS from lighting and will prevent any power and audio.

4) GROUND TERMINALS. You probably don't need to worry about these. Normally there is a metal strip joining CIRCUIT and

CHASSIS Grounds. This is the first place to look if you get a hum. Make sure the strap hasn't fallen off or use a piece of wire to join the

terminals. The CIRCUIT Ground is the internal audio ground (including the 1/4" jack sleeves). The CHASSIS Ground is the metal chassis,

third pin electrical ground and pin 1 of the XLRs. Some studios use special grounding practices and these terminals are meant to make it

easy to hook up this unit for a wide variety of installations. They also help with troubleshooting hum problems.

5) PHONE JACK INPUT. (Channel One or Left) Accepts balanced or unbalanced sources. Factory set-up for +4dBu pro levels. There

are some DIP switches internally that can change this to -10dBv semi-pro or hi-fi levels. The pin out is as follows: Tip = Positive = Hot,

Ring=Negative=Loworground, Sleeve=CircuitGround. IfyouuseTRSplugsbesurethattheringisconnectedtothenegativeorground

and not "open". Input impedance is 20K ohms. See page 16 & 17 for the DIP Switch details.

6) XLR JACK INPUT. (Channel One or Left) Accepts balanced or unbalanced sources. Only for +4dBu pro levels. The DIP switches

have no effect on the XLRs. The pin out is as follows: PIN 2 = Positive = Hot, PIN 3 = Negative = Low or ground, PIN 1 = Chassis Ground.

Be sure that the PIN 3 is connected to the negative or ground and not "open" or a 6dB loss or loss of signal will happen. In general, the XLRs

and +4 pro levels are slightly preferable over phone plugs especially if gold plated matching XLRs and good cable are used.

7) XLR JACK OUTPUT. (Channel One or Left) Transformer Balanced and Floating. Only for +4dBu pro levels. The DIP switches have

no effect on the XLRs. The pin out is as follows: PIN 2 = Positive = Hot, PIN 3 = Negative = Low or ground, PIN 1 = Chassis Ground.

Be sure that the PIN 3 is connected to the negative or ground and not "open" or a complete loss of signal will happen. Output impedance

is 150 ohms and output levels can reach +37 dBv (hot) which may distort the next piece in the chain.

8) PHONE JACK OUTPUT. (Channel One or Left) Unbalanced output only. Factory set-up for +4dBu pro levels. There are some DIP

switches internally that can change this to -10dBv semi-pro or hi-fi levels (with a phase reverse). The pin out is as follows: Tip = Positive

= Hot, Sleeve = Circuit Ground. If you use TRS plugs be sure that the ring is connected to the negative or ground and not "open". See page

16 & 17 for the DIP Switch details.

9) PHONE JACK INPUT. (Channel Two or Right) Same as 5 above.

10) XLR JACK INPUT. (Channel Two or Right) Same as 6 above.

11) XLR JACK OUTPUT. (Channel Two or Right) Same as 7 above.

12)PHONE JACK OUTPUT. (Channel Two or Right) Same as 8 above.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

THE FRONT PANEL

22 1K

OUT

82 3K9

OUT

220 10K

OUT

560 27K

82 3K9

OUT

220 10K

OUT

560 27K

OUT

SHELF

BELL

SHELF

BELL

SHELF

BELL

BOOST

CUT

SHELF

BELL

BOOST

CUT

SHELF

BELL

BOOST

CUT

SHELF

BELL

BOOST

CUT

SHELF

BOOST

SHELF

BOOST

CUT

BOOST

CUT

BOOST

CUT

OUT

POWER

BELL

CUT

BELL

GAIN

-6

BANDWIDTH

12K

LOW

18K

OFF

7K5

18K

OFF

7K5

PASS

FREQUENCY

150

FREQUENCY

560

FREQUENCY

1K5

FREQUENCY

3K9

FREQUENCY

150

FREQUENCY

560

FREQUENCY

1K5

2K2

FREQUENCY

3K9

2K7

100

220

390

820

2K2

100

220

390

2K7

820

5K6

8K2

HIGH

PASS

OFF

120

220

OFF

120

220

1K2

1K8

680

470

330

3K3

4K7

1K8

1K2

820

1K2

1K8

680

470

330

3K3

4K7

1K8

1K2

820

270

180

270

180

330

470

8K2

12K

330

470

12K

16K

680

120

2K7

120

2K7

6K8

16K

6K8

3K9

220

560

27K

220

560

27K

10K

MASSIVE PASSIVE

STEREO EQUALIZER

1) The Power Switch: First things first, turn it clockwise to power up the unit. There is no "power on LED", instead you can

useanyoftheBoost/Off/CutswitchesinBoostorCutandtheylightimmediatelywithpoweron. Thereisa"warm-up"circuit

that forces the unit into "Bypass" for about 20 seconds, to prevent big thumps from hitting your speakers. This also prevents

the blue LEDs that indicate "EQ IN" from lighting up for that 20 seconds. This is not a total hardwire bypass - if power is not

on, the unit will not pass audio. At trade shows, we have seen a few people turn the "Power Switch" by accident, perhaps

thinking it was a tone control. Not knowing, there is a "warm-up" circuit, and seeing no blue light action, they thought they

may have broken the unit. The lack of a "power LED" is just one of the deliberate ideosyncracies. 4 reasons: there wasn't a

great place to put one, it was redundant with 16 boost/cut LEDs (we were laughing at other panels with dozens of lit LEDs

and a fast turn-on LCD screen also sporting a big power LED), and this unit is meant for professionals that we assume can plug

in a piece of gear, see (or feel) the switch and turn it on, and it may annoy those who want all gear to be just "normal" ;-)

2) EQ IN buttons: Push to activate the EQ circuits. The buttons glow blue when EQ is IN including the Filters and Gain Trims.

The "warm-up" circuit prevents both EQ to be IN and the buttons from lighting when it first gets powered up. In "bypass" (un-

lit) the tubes are not in circuit but the input amplifier and balanced output transformer are in circuit. Yes, real blue LEDs.

3) Gain Trims: Intended to help match levels between "Bypass" and "EQ IN" modes so that the EQ effect can be more

accurately judged. It is difficult to compare if the level jumps up or down and easy to prefer EQ when mostly it is just louder.

These trims only have a small range of -6 to +4 dB of gain. With drastic EQ there may not be enough range to match levels

but with drastic EQ this kind of comparison is of little use. The range is small to allow easier and finer adjustments.

4) Low Pass Filters: They pass lows and chop highs. There is a separate filter for each switch setting and they only share the

switch and one resistor. The filters are entirely passive and "inserted" between the boost sections and cut sections.

The 18kHz filter is probably most useful for warming up digital. It seems to remove some irritating super-sonic noise

associated with digital to analog converters. It is designed as a modified eliptical filter down 60dB one octave up (36kHz) on

paper but in real life "only" drops about 40 dB. It is flat within 0.5dB up to 16kHz then very steeply drops. It is sonically subtle.

12kHz position can be considered general purpose hiss killing. It is also very flat up to 11kHz and drops at 30 dB/octave.

9kHz, 7.5kHz & 6 kHz. These are intended for more creative sound sculpting than as utility filters. They have a 1.5 to 2 dB

bump or boost right before they cut at 18dB/octave. This helps compensate for the percieved loss of highs while still allowing

deep HF cuts. This gives them a little color and edge as opposed to just dullness. You may find they help remove some of that

buzzy super high distortion of cranked guitar rigs as well as help some synth and bass sounds. They are also intended to help

with "effects" such as "telephone sound" and vintage simulations and for some techno, rap and industrial style music.

5) High Pass Filters: They pass highs and chop lows. There is a separate filter for each switch setting and they only share the

switch and one resistor. The filters are entirely passive and "inserted" between the boost sections and cut sections. They are

all 18dB/octave (most modern filters are 12), with no bumps and no resonances. We use a large, low DCR, custom inductor.

The 22Hz is very subtle and is designed to remove sub-sonic frequencies that may have been boosted by previous EQ. Most

signal below 25Hz is only good for testing or messing up sub-woofers. You may not hear the effect in the studio, but often

youcanseeitonthemeters. Nowthatsub-woofersarebecomingcommoninautosandconsumersystems, wearehearingmore

complaints of excess lows and LF garbage. This filter is in response to these concerns and requests from mastering engineers.

The 39Hz filter can be used similarly, but may be audible with some material. This filter, as with the others, can be used with

thenormalboost/cutsectionsforamoretailoredlowEQ. ThiscanallowbiggerandmoreeffectiveLFboostswhileminimising

the side-effects of excessive woofer excursions and unwanted audible LF noise like air conditioner or subway rumble.

The 68Hz filter is also general purpose and ideal for most vocals and pop removal. Also good in combination with shelves.

120 and 220Hz filters are intended for garbage removal, sonic sculpting, and effects. 120 is useful for some vocals. The 220

is for some close miked hi-hats and percussion instruments. Yup, 220Hz tends to be drastic and only occasionally valuable.

Check out the curves on page 16 for a little more detail on these filters.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

THE 4 BANDS

22 - 1K

OUT

560 - 27K

OUT

HIGH SHELF

BELL

LOW SHELF

BOOST

OFF

CUT

BOOST

OFF

SHELF

BELL

BOOST

SHELF

BELL

BOOST

CUT

BELL

CUT

GAIN

CCW = FLAT

BANDWIDTH

CCW = WIDE

FREQUENCY

3K9

2K7

FREQUENCY

150

220

100

5K6

330

470

1K8

1K2

820

8K2

12K

FREQUENCY

SELECT

680

16K

560

27K

1) BOOST / OUT / CUT, TOGGLE. Each band has individual toggles to select whether that band will boost or cut or be

bypassed. "OUT" is a hardwire bypass for that band. Unlike most EQs, you must select boost or cut for each band. There are

severalgoodreasonsforthisarrangement. First, becausetheboostpartofthecircuitisinadifferentplacethanthecutpartbecause

itispassive, thisallowsustousethesamecomponentsinbothsectionsbutdoingessentiallyoppositefunctions. Theconventional

arrangement of a boost/zero/cut pot (baxandall) circuit was avoided to really make it passive. This switch also allows twice the

resolution of the "GAIN" pot and a much more accurate "zero". The center detent of conventional EQs is rarely the "electrical"

centerofthepotsowhatyouexpectiszeroisoftenalittleEQed.Thistoggleallowssomeofus,whousedipEQtoreduceoffending

frequencies to verify those frequencies in "Boost" and then switch to "Cut". Finally, it allows us to bypass each band individually,

without losing our "GAIN" pot setting rather than resetting a band to zero or bypassing the entire EQ.

2) SHELF & BELL. The two lowest (leftmost) bands can each be a special Low Shelf or conventional Bell shape. The two

highest (rightmost) bands can each be a special High Shelf or conventional Bell shape. Shelf & Bell describe the EQ's shape. We

included some diagrams to help visualize these curves. Bell curves focus their boost and cut at given frequency and the further

away we get from that frequency, the less boost or cut. The bell curves on the Massivo are moderately wide and the "Bandwidth

Control" does not have a lot of range and it also affects the maximum boost and cut (like a Pultec). Shelf slopes generally boost

(or cut) towards the highs or lows (thus high shelves and low shelves). These are not to be confused with "high or low filters"

which purely cut above or below a given frequency. Shelves also have gain or dB controls which allow you to just boost or cut

a little bit if desired - filters never have these controls. The Massive Passive allows each of the 4 bands to be switched to shelf.

The two mid shelves are almost the same as the outer ones but just have other (interleaved) frequency choices. For example, you

can set up the mid-high shelf to start boosting at 3K3, say 4 dB, then apply another high shelf to boost 12K, say for 10 dB, which

provides a few gentle gradual steps. BTW, the maximum boost in the example is 10 dB (not 14) and occurs around 20 kHz. You

maynoticethatasyouswitchbetweenbellandshelftheamountof"grab"mayseemtobelessinshelf. Notreally, botharecapable

of 20 db boosts but towards the extremes that boost may be sub-sonic or super-sonic because we "spec" the shelf at the 1/2 way

point (10 dB), not the 3 dB down (or up) or maximum point. When you choose frequencies closer to the mids this "effect" is much

less however if the "bandwidth" is medium to narrow the "effect" is more pronounced. Most EQs don't allow one to switch from

bell to shelf and don't have a functioning "bandwidth" in shelf mode and this may be understandably unfamiliar ground.

3) GAIN. This sets the boost and/or cut depth or amount and works with the BOOST, OUT, CUT, TOGGLE. FLAT is fully

counter-clockwise not straight up "12:00" like most EQs. It is more like a Pultec in this regard. Maximum boost or cut is fully

clockwise and can be up to 20 dB - but not necessarily. There is a fair amount of interaction with the BANDWIDTH control. The

maximum of 20 dB is available in Shelf modes when the Bandwidth is CCW and is about 12 dB when the Bandwidth is CW.

The maximum of 20 dB is available in Bell modes when the Bandwidth is CW and is about 6 dB when the Bandwidth is CCW.

Atstraightup"12:00"inBellmode"narrow"expectabout8dBofboostorcut. Inotherwords, youshouldn'texpectthemarkings

around the knob to indicate a particular number of dBs. Many Eqs are this way. On the other hand, this interaction is the result

of natural interactions between components and tends to "feel" and sound natural as opposed to contrived.

These 4 GAIN controls have some interaction with each other unlike conventional EQs. It is a parallel EQ rather than the far more

common series connected style. If you set up all 4 bands to around 1kHz and boosed all 20 dB, the total boost will be 20 dB rather

than 80dB (20+ db of boost and 60 dB into clipping). This also implies, that if you first boost one band, that the next three will

notseemtodoanythingiftheyareatsimilarfrequenciesandbandwidths. Virtuallyallotherparametricsarebothseriesconnected

and designed for minimal interaction, which seems to be quite appealing if you wear a white lab coat with pocket protectors ;.)

Actually, there are valid arguements for those goals and there are definately some applications that require them. However, there

isalsoavalidpoint foranEQthatissubstantiallydifferentfromthe"norm", andforaudiotoysthathaveartisticmeritandpurpose

and not just scientific interest or gimmickry. We tried to balance artistic, technological and practical considerations in the

Massivo, and offer both some new and old approaches that appealed to the ears of recording engineers (and our own ears).

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

4) BANDWIDTH. Similar to the "Q" control found in many EQs. A more accurate term here would be "Damping" or

"Resonance" but we used "Bandwidth" to stay with Pultec terminology and because it is a "constant bandwidth" (*) design

rather than "constant Q" and because of the way it uniquely works in both Bell and Shelf modes. In Bell modes, you will

find it similar to most Q controls with a wider shape fully CCW and narrower fully CW. The widest Q (at maximum boost)

is about 1 for the 22-1K band and 1.5 for the other 3 and the narrowest Q is about 2.5 to 3 for all of the bands and most of

the frequencies. On paper, the bell widths appear to have less effect than is apparent on listening and the sound is probably

more due to "damping" or "ringing" and the way it interacts with the gain. Also some people associate a wide bell on

conventionalEQswithmoreenergyboostorcut, andatfirstimpressiontheMassivoseemstoworkbackwardcomparedwith

that and narrow bandwidths give more drastic results. On the Massive Passive a narrow bandwidth bells will allow up to the

full 20 dB of boost (or cut) and wide bandwidths significantly less at about 6 dB maximum.

InShelfModestheBandwidthhasaspecialfunction.WhenthisknobisfullyCCW,theshelfcurvesareverysimilartoalmost

all other EQs. As you increase the Bandwidth control, you begin to introduce a bell curve in the opposite direction. So if you

have a shelf boost, you gradually add a bell dip which modifies the overall shelf shape. At straight up, it stays flatter towards

the mid range, and begins to boost further from the mids with a steeper slope but the final maximum part of the boost curve

stays relatively untouched. With the Bandwidth control fully CW, that bell dip becomes obvious and is typically 6dB down

at the frequency indicated. The boost slope is steeper and the maximum boost may be about 12 dB. These curves were

modelled from Pultec EQP1-As and largely responsible for the outrageous "phatness" they are known for. As you turn the

Bandwidth knob (CW), it seems as if the shelf curve is moving further towards the extreme frequencies, but mostly of this

is just the beginning part of the slope changing and not the peak. This also implies, that you may find yourself using

frequencies closer to the mids than you might be used to. These shelf curves have never been available for an analog high

shelf before and provide some fresh options.

5) FREQUENCY. Each band provides a wide range of overlapping and interleaving frequency choices. Each switch

position is selecting a different capacitor and inductor. Only the 22 and 33 Hz on the low band and the 16K and 27K in shelf

mode deserve some special explanation. These have been "voiced" a little different from the rest and are somewhat unique.

Why "modify" the way the 22, 33, 16K and 27K shelves work? When we specify that a low shelf is at 22 Hz, it means that

only the half-way point of the boost (or cut) is 22 Hz. If we dial up a 20 dB boost set at 22Hz then 22 Hz is half-way up

the slope or boosted 10dB. The full amount of the boost (20 dB) is only kicking in around 2 Hz. This is dangerous and almost

useless for anything except whale music. Not only that, but now we have a Bandwidth control that seems to push the

frequencylower, and at12:00essentiallyflattenstheEQat22Hz. SowechangedtheBandwidthcontrolforthosetwolowest

frequencies so that it acts as a HP filter as you turn it CW and tends to prevent boosting excessive sub-sonic frequencies. To

our ears, it seems to "tighten up" the shelf and removes some of the sloppy looseness associated with those sub-sonics.

The 16kHz and 27kHz shelfs were also specially "voiced" for similar reasons. In this case, a 50kHz low pass filter prevents

these shelfs from helping recieve the local AM radio stations. The Bandwidth-Dip frequencies were lowered to about 8 kHz

so that on a single band, you would have more effective control between the balance of "air" and "sibilance". In practice, it

gives you a great deal of air without the usual problem "esses" when you boost a lot of highs.

At extreme high and low frequencies (including 10K and 12K), you might get some unexpected results because of the

Bandwidth/Shelf function. For example, you can set up 20 dB of boost at 12K and it can sound like you just lost highs instead

of boosting. This happens when the Bandwidth control is more CW only and not when it is CCW. Why? You are creating

a dip at 12K and the shelf is only beginning at the fringes of audibility but the dip is where most of us can easily percieve.

It takes a little getting used too the way the controls interact. The reverse is also true, where you set up a shelf cut and you

get a boost because of the Bandwidth control being far CW. In some ways this simulates the shape of a resonant synthesizer

filter or VCF except it doesn't move. These wierd highs are useful for raunchy guitars and are designed to work well with

the Filters. There are a lot of creative uses for these bizarre settings including messing up the minds of back-seat engineers.

There is some example settings near the back page that may help to show how different this EQ is.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

* For the technically minded, there is another and stronger definition of "constant bandwidth" filters but it doesn't seem to

apply to pro audio. In FM radio recievers "constant bandwidth" is a type of filter used in the tuning sections, and the filter

width allows the reception specs to stay constant as the tuning filter is moved. It is unlikely anybody has ever offered this

type of constant bandwidth filter lowered to audio frequencies. Given that we have about 3 decades of frequency in audio,

can you imagine an EQ that had a Q of 0.3 (very wide) in the lows and a Q of 30 in the highs (extremely narrow)? For

perspective, a Q range of 1 to 10 is a pretty wide span. There are a few EQs that get slightly narrower Qs as the frequency

is increased but not even close to true "constant bandwidth" the RF engineers appreciate. This is either deliberate or the result

of trying to squeeze too much range out of a simple inductor. Manley Labs prefers the bell shape to remain relatively constant

atallfrequenciesandtheMassivouses14tapinductorswithlowDCRtoprovidethis. Theonlypossiblyuseful"Q variation"

(other than a Q knob) is a circuit that gives a wider Q for boosts and a narrower Q for cuts. This very rare technique is cool

for music. It corresponds to the way many engineers use EQs and reduces audible ringing and EQ "signature".

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

NOTES

1) Do not assume the knob settings "mean" what you expect they should mean. Part of this is due to the interaction of the controls. Part

is due to the new shelf slopes and part due to a lack of standards regarding shelf specification.

2) You may find yourself leaning towards shelf frequencies closer to the mids than you are used to and the "action" seems closer to the edges

of the spectrum than your other EQs. Same reasons as above.

3) You may also find yourself getting away with what seems like massive amounts of boost. Where the knobs end up, may seem scarey

particularly for mastering. Keep in mind that, even at maximum boost, a wide bell might only max out at 6 dB of boost (less for the lowest

band) and only reaches 20 dB at the narrowest bandwidth. On the other hand, because of how transparent this EQ is, you might actually

be EQing more than you could with a different unit. Taste rules, test benches don't make hit records, believe your ears.

4)Sometimestheshelfswillsoundprettywierd,especially(only)atthenarrowbandwidthsettings.Theymightseemtobehavingacomplex

effect and not only at the "dialed in" frequency. This is certainly possible. Try wider bandwidths at first.

5) If you seem to be boosting all 4 bands at widely separated frequencies and not hearing much "EQ" as you might expect (except for level)

this is a side-effect of a passive EQ and probably a good thing. To get drastic sounding EQ you should try boosting a few bands and cutting

a few bands. In fact, it is usually best to start with cutting rather than boosting.

6)AreasonablestartingpointfortheBandwidthforshelvesisstraightuporbetween11:00and1:00. Itwasdesignedthiswayandisroughly

where the maximum flatness around the "knee" is, combined with a well defined steep slope.

7) The Massive Passive has some internal dip switches for better optimised -10 applications however it is a slightly flawed implementation

- it reverses the phase or polarity so we only recommend using the +4 factory setting. If one must use -10 unbalanced mode, please consider

using special cables where the input is wired ring hot or using the phase switch on the console or workstation. On the other hand, if a set-

up requires -10 levels and can't deal with +4 pro balanced signals, then maybe, absolute polarity issues are a relatively minor problem.

8) The Massive Passive may sound remarkably different from other high end EQs and completely different from the console EQs. Yes,

this is quite deliberate. Hopefully it sounds better, sweeter, more musical and it complements your console EQs. We saw little need for yet

another variation of the standard parametric with only subtle sonic differences. We suggest using the Massive Passive before tape, for the

bulk of the EQ tasks and then using the console EQs for some fine tweaking and where narrow Q touch-ups like notches are needed. The

Massive Passive is equally at home doing big, powerful EQ tasks such as is sometimes required for tracking drums, bass and guitars, or

for doing those demanding jobs where subtlety is required like vocals and mastering.

CREDITS

PRODUCED BY EVEANNA MANLEY

EveAnna suggested that we work on a "tube parametric", and had a lot to do with the look of the Massive Passive including the

back-lit panels, engraved inserts and the name. She cleverly allowed the designer almost total freedom in the execution.

NAMED BY: RANDY PORTER & JUSTIN WEIS

We were less than thrilled by the working names we were using which included "Furthermore", and "Antiqualizer" so we ran a

"name this EQ" contest on our website with a cash or credit prize (good reason to check out www.manleylabs.com once in a

while). We got hundreds of names (most featuring the letter Q) but Randy and Justin separately came up with Massive Passive

and they both won and they both applied their credit towards the EQ they named. The nickname "Massivo" comes from

"Massivo Passivo" which the Manley assemblers prefer to call it.

Craig Hutchison came up with the concepts, circuits, and boards. Given that the Massivo is quirky, eccentric and over-the-top,

you can pretty much guess what the designer is like. He used SPICE3, WAVES plug-ins and several complex looking

breadboards and many listening tests in the process. Again, blame him for this long-winded, opinion-filled manual.

OTHER VALUED CONTRIBUTORS

Baltazar helped with circuit boards, mechanical drafting and proto-assembly. Michael Hunter helped develop all the inductors

(which was a major task). Dave Hecht (Record Plant), George Peterson (MIX), Seva (WAVES) and Ross Hogarth (Freelance

Engineer) were valuable sounding boards in the concept stage and Dave was the first to really evaluate it. Elias Guzman

fabricated all the circuit boards including several protos. Pre-production beta-testers include Larry, Rick, Don & Spencer at

Precision Mastering, Dave Collins at A&M Mastering, and Eddie Schreyer at Oasis Mastering, all known for their ears and

honest opinions. Last but not least, our dealers for their faith in us, especially, Barb and Al at Studio Tech in Texas, Raper

Wayman in the UK, Coast in Hollywood, and many more.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

Beginnings

"The Super-Pultec"

The very earliest equalizers were very simple and primitive by

todays standards. Yes, simpler than the hi-fi "bass" and "treble"

controls we grew up with. The first tone controls were like the tone

controls on an electric guitar. They used only capacitors and

potentiometers and were extremely simple. Passive simply means

no "active" (powered) parts and active parts include transistors,

FETs, tubes and ICs where gain is implied. "Passive" also implies

no boost is possible - only cut. The most recent "purely passive EQ"

we know of was the EQ-500 designed by Art Davis and built by a

numberofcompaniesincludingUnitedRecordingandAltecLansing.

It had a 10 dB insertion loss. No tubes. It had boost and cut positions

but boost just meant less loss. Manley Labs re-created this vintage

piece and added a tube gain make-up amp for that 10 dB or make-

up gain to restore unity levels. It has a certain sweetness too.

Manley Labs has been building a few versions of the Pultec-style

EQs for many years as well as an updated version of the EQ-500

(another vintage EQ). These are classic passive EQs combined with

Manley's own gain make-up amplifiers. Engineers loved them but

we often heard requests for a Manley Parametric EQ with all the

modern features but done with tubes. Another request we had was

fora"Super-Pultec". Webrieflyconsideredcombiningthe"bestof"

Pultecs into a new product but the idea of some bands only boosting

and some only cutting could only be justified in an authentic vintage

re-creation and not a new EQ.

ThenextchallengewastomakeanEQthatsoundedasgoodorbetter

than a Pultec. With all the hundreds of EQs designed since the

Pultec, none really beat them for sheer fatness. We knew why. Two

reasons. EQP1-A's have separate knobs for boost and cut. People

tend to use both at the same time. You might think that this would

just cancel out - wrong.... You get what is known as the "Pultec

Curve" . The deep lows are boosted, the slope towards "flat"

becomes steeper, and a few dB of dip occurs in the low mids. The

second reason for the fatness and warmth was the use of inductors

and transformers that saturate nicely combined with vacuum tubes

for preserving the headroom and signal integrity.

Youhaveprobablyheardofpassivecrossoversandactivecrossovers

in respect to speakers or speaker systems. Each has advantages.

Almost all hi-fi speakers use a passive crossover mounted in the

speaker cabinet. Only one amp is required per speaker. Again,

passive refers to the crossover using only capacitors, inductors and

resistors. Active here refers to multiple power amplifiers.

One of the main design goals of the Massive Passive was to use only

capacitors, inductors and resistors to change the tone. Pultecs do it

this way too and many of our favorite vintage EQs also relied on

inductors and caps. In fact, since op-amps became less expensive

than inductors, virtually every EQ that came out since the mid '70's

substituted ICs for inductors. One is a coil of copper wire around a

magnetic core and the other is probably 20 or more transistors. Does

the phrase "throwing out the baby with the bath water" ring a bell?

Couldweusea"bandwidthcontrol"tosimulatethe"PultecCurve(s)?

The Pultec curve is officially a shelf and shelf EQs don't have a

"bandwidthorQknob"-onlythebellcurves.So,ifwebuiltapassive

parametric where each band could switch to shelf or bell and used

that"bandwidth"knobintheshelfmodeswecouldnotonlysimulate

the Pultecs but add another parameter to the "Parametric EQ" We

found that we could apply the "Pultec Curve" to the highs with

equally impressive results. This is very new.

Another design goal was to avoid having the EQ in a negative

feedback loop. Baxandall invented the common circuit that did this.

It simplified potentiometer requirements, minimised the number of

parts and was essentially convenient. Any EQ where "flat" is in the

middle of the pot's range and turning the pot one way boosts and the

other way cuts is a variation of the old Baxandall EQ. Pultecs are not

this way. Flat is fully counter-clockwise. For the Massive Passive,

Baxandall was not an option. The classical definition of "passive"

has little to do with "feedback circuits" and we are stretching the

definition a bit here, however, it certainly is more passive this way.

TheMassivePassivediffersfromPultecsinseveralimportantareas.

Rather than copy any particular part of a Pultec, we designed the

"Massivo" from the ground up. As mentioned, each band being able

to boost or cut and switch from shelf to bell is quite different from

Pultecs. This required a different topology than Pultecs which like

most EQs utilize a "series" connection from band to band. The

Massive Passive uses a "parallel" connection scheme.

Aseriesconnectionwouldimplythatforeachband's20dBofboost,

there is actually 20 dB (more in reality) of loss in the flat settings.

Yeah, that adds up to over 80 dB, right there, and then there is

significantlossesinvolvedifoneintendstousethesamecomponents

tocutandtoboost.Andmorelossesinthefilterand"gaintrim".That

much loss would mean, that much gain, and to avoid noise there

would need to be gain stages between each band and if done with

tubes would end up being truly massive, hot and power hungry.

We only use amplification to boost the signal. Flat Gain ! What goes

iniswhatcomesout. Ifwedidn'tuseanyamplifiers, youwouldneed

to return the signal to a mic pre because the EQ circuit eats about 50

dB of gain. Luckily, you don't have to think about this.

We visited a few top studios and asked "what do you want from a

new EQ ?" They unanamously asked for "click switch frequencies",

"character" rather than "clinical" and not another boring, modern

sterile EQ. They had conventional EQs all over the console and

wanted something different. They had a few choice gutsy EQs with

"click frequencies" that were also inductor/capacitor based (which

is why the frequencies were on a rotary switch). Requests like

"powerful", "flexible", "unusual" and "dramatic" kept coming up.

Instead, we used a parallel topology. Not only are the losses much

more reasonable (50 dB total!) but we believe it sounds more

"natural"and"musical". InmanywaystheMassivePassiveisavery

unusual EQ, from how it is built, to how it is to operate and most

importantly how it sounds.

We designed these circuits using precise digital EQ simulations,

SPICE3 for electronic simulations, and beta tested prototypes in

major studios and mastering rooms for opinions from some of the

best "ears" in the business.

We started with these goals: modern parametric-like operation,

passive tone techniques through-out, and features different from

anything currently available and, most importantly, it had to sound

spectacular.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

"The Passive Parametric"

Another important concept. When you use the shelf curves the

frequencies on the panel may or may nor correspond to other EQ's

frequencymarkings. Itseemsthereareacceptedstandardsforfilters

and bell curves for specifying frequency, but not shelves. We use a

common form of spec where the "freq" corresponds to the half-way

dB point. So, if you have a shelf boost of 20 db set at 100 Hz, then

at100,itisboosting10dB.Thefull20dBofboostishappeninguntil

below 30 Hz. Not only that, like every other shelf EQ there will be

a few dB of boost as high as 500 Hz or 1K. This is all normal,

except.........

For years, we had been getting requests for a Manley parametric

equalizer, but it looked daunting because every parametric we knew

of used many op-amps and a "conventional parametric" would be

very impractical to do with tubes. Not impossible, but it might take

upwards of a dozen tubes per channel. A hybrid design using chips

for cheapness and tubes for THD was almost opposite of how

Manley Labs approaches professional audio gear and tube designs.

Could we combine the best aspects of Pultecs, old console EQs and

high end dedicated parametric EQs?

Except we now have a working "bandwidth control" in shelf mode.

With the bandwidth set fully counter-clockwise, these shelves

approximate virtually ever other EQ's shelf (given that some use a

different freq spec). As you turn the bandwidth control clockwise,

everythingchangesanditbreaksalltherules(andsoundsawesome).

Lets use an example. If graphs are more your style, refer to these as

well. Supposeweuse4.7Konthethirdbandbyswitchingto"boost"

and "shelf" and turning the "bandwidth control" fully counter-

clockwise. Careful with levels from here on out. Just for fun, select

4.7kHz and turn the "dB" control to the max - fully clockwise. This

should be like most other shelf EQs, except with better fidelity, (if

youcansetthemtoaround5kHz!).Now,slowlyturnthe"bandwidth"

clockwise. Near 12:00 it should be getting "special". It also sounds

higher (in freq). Keep turning. At fully clockwise it seems to have

gotten a little higher and some of the sibilance is actually less than

in "bypass". It sort of sounds as if the bandwidth is acting like a

variable frequency control but better. More air - less harshness.

What is the definition of a "Parametric Equalizer"? We asked the

man who invented the first Parametric Equalizer and coined the

term. He shrugged his shoulders and indicated there really is no

definition and it has become just a common description for all sorts

of EQs. He presented a paper to the AES in 1971 when he was 19.

His name is George Massenburg and still manufactures some of the

best parametric EQs (GML) and still uses them daily for all of his

major recordings. Maybe he originally meant "an EQ where one

couldadjustthelevel,frequencyandQindependently".Heprobably

also meant continuously variable controls (as was the fashion) but

this was the first aspect to be "modified" when mastering engineers

needed reset-ability and rotary switches. The next development was

the variation of "Constant Bandwidth" as opposed to "Constant Q"

in the original circuits. "Constant Q" implies the Q or bell shape

staysthesameateverysettingofboostandcut."ConstantBandwidth"

implies the Q gets wider near flat and narrower as you boost or cut

more. Pultecs and passive EQs were of the constant bandwidth type

and most console EQs and digital EQs today are the constant

bandwidthtypebecausemostofusprefer"musical"over"surgical".

Lately we have seen the word "parametric" used for EQs without

even a Q control.

Compared to "conventional parametrics" in all their variations, the

Massive Passive has just "upped the ante" by adding a few useful

new parameters. The first is the use of the "bandwidth" in shelf

modes.Secondistheabilitytoswitcheachandeverybandintoshelf.

The original parametrics were only "bell". We have seen some EQs

that allow the lowest and highest bands to switch to shelf. Now you

can use two HF shelfs to fine tune in new ways without chaining

several boxes together. Lastly, each band can be bypassed or

switchedfromboosttocutwithoutlosingaknobsetting.Thisallows

twice the resolution from the "dB" pots and allows one to exagerate

an offending note in order to nail the frequency easier, then simply

switchto"cut". Youcanalwayscheck, withoutlosingthedBsetting

by switching back to "boost" for a minute. You can also have

absolute confidence that the "zero" position on the dB pot is "flat"

which is not the case with center detented pots. Mechanical center

and electrical center are rarely the same.

We can call the Massive Passive a "passive parametric" but .... it

differs from George's concepts in a significant way. And this is

important to understand, to best use the Massive Passive. The dB

andbandwidthknobsarenotindependent.Wealreadynotedthatthe

QofthebellcurvewidenswhenthedBcontrolisclosertoflat. More

significantly, the boost or cut depth varies with the bandwidth

control. At the narrowest bandwidths (clockwise) you can dial in 20

dB of boost or cut. At the widest bandwidths you can only boost or

cut6dB(andonly2dBinthetwo22-1Kbands). Somehow, thisstill

sounds musical and natural. The reason seems to be, simply using

basic parts in a natural way without forcing them to behave in some

idealized conceptual framework.

"SPICE" printout

"Normal Shelf" Wide Bandwidth

"Special Shelf" Medium Bandwidth

"Pultec Shelf" Narrow Bandwidth

Bell Cut Narrow Bandwidth

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

Why Passive?

And Why Parallel?

If you hate tech talk, just skip this section - it has to do with

electronic parts and circuits and design philosophy.

The Massive Passive is a "parallel design" as opposed to the

far more common "series design". A few pages back, we

mentioned the main reason for going with a parallel design

was to avoid extreme signal loss, which would require

extreme gains and present the problem of noise or extreme

cost. The parallel approach not only avoided this but has a

number of advantages as well.

AllEQsusecapacitors.Theyareveryeasytouse,predictible,

cheap and simple. Some sound slightly better than others.

Inductors do almost the mirror function of capacitors.

Unfortunately, they can be difficult to use (they can pick up

hum),theycanbedifficulttopredict(theessentialinductance

value usually depends on the power going through them

which varies with audio), they are expensive and generally

have to be custom made for EQs. These are qualities that lab-

coat engineers tend to scowl at. Some effort was aimed at

replacing the poor inductors and more effort made to bad-

mouth them and justify these new circuits. The main reason

was cost. All of the "classic" Eqs used real inductors and that

has become the dividing line "sought after vintage" and just

old.

WiththeseriesEQdesign,ifyouset3bandstoboostthesame

frequency 15 dB each, the total boost will be band one plus

two plus three - or 45 dB - but then it would probably be

distortinginaratheruglyway.WiththeMassivePassive,you

can dial in 4 bands to boost 20 db near 1K and it still will only

boost 20 dB total. If you tend to boost 4 bands at widely

separated frequencies (like what happens on two day mixes

withsneakyproducers),ittendssoundalmostflat,butlouder.

Other EQs seem to sound worse and worse as you boost more

and more. For some people it will act as a "safety feature" and

prevent them from goofy EQ. Occasionally, you may be

surprised with what looks like radical settings and how close

to flat it sounds. A side effect is that if you are already

boosting a lot of highs in one band, if you attempt to use

another band to tweak it, the second band will seem rather

ineffective. You may have to back off on that first band to get

the desired tone. You actually have to work at making the

Massive Passive sound like heavy-handed EQ by using a

balanced combination of boosts and cuts. In a sense it pushes

you towards how the killer engineers always suggest to use

EQs (ie gentle, not much, more cut than boost). This is good.

What the lab-coats didn't consider was that inductors may

have had real but subtle advantages. Is it only obvious to

"purists" that a coil of copper wire may sound better than 2 or

3 op-amps, each with over twenty transistors, hundreds of

dBs of negative feedback along with "hiss", cross-over

distortion and hard harsh clipping?

We mentioned the inductance value can change with applied

power. This also turns out to be a surprising advantage. For

example, in the low shelf, with heavy boosts and loud low

frequency signals, at some point, the inductor begins to

saturate and loses inductance. Sort of a cross between an EQ

and a low freq limiter. The trick is to design the inductor to

saturate at the right point and in the right way.

While there may be interesting arguments against any

interactionbetweenEQbands,thereasonstendtobemorefor

purely technical biases than based on listening. In nature and

acoustics and instrument design, very little of the factors that

affect tone are isolated from each other. Consider how a

guitar's string vibrates the bridge which vibrates the sound

board, resonates in the body, and in turn vibrates the bridge

and returns to the string. What is isolated? The fact that the

bands are NOT isolated from each other in the Massivo is one

of the reasons it does tend to sound more natural and less

electronic. We noticed this effect in a few passive graphic

EQs, notably the "560" and a cut-only 1/3 octave EQ.

In the mid-bands and bell curves a somewhat different effect

happens. The center-frequency shifts slightly depending on

both the waveform and signal envelope. This "sound" is the

easily recognizeable signature of vintage EQs. It is not a type

of harmonic distortion (though it can be mistaken for this on

a test-bench) but more of a slight modulation effect.

Inductors in the form of transformers are also a large part of

why vintage gear is often described as "warm" whether it was

built with tubes or transistors. In fact, the quality of the

transformer has always been directly related to whether a

pieceofaudiogearhasbecomesoughtafter.Saturationinthis

case involves adding odd harmonics to very low frequencies

which either tends to make lows audible in small speakers or

makesthebasssoundlouderandricher(whilestillmeasuring

"flat"). The key is how much. A little seems to be sometimes

desireable (not always) and a little more is beginning to be

muddy and a little more can best be described as "blat". The

numberofaudiotransformerexpertshasfallentoamerehand

full and some of them are getting very old.

There is a type of interaction we did avoid. That is inductor

to inductor coupling. It is caused by the magnetic field

created by one inductor to be picked up by another. It can

cause the inductors to become an unexpected value, or if it is

band to band, can cause effects that can best be described as

goofy. IntheFilterSectionweutilizedcloseinductorspacing

togetsomehum-buckingactionbutavoidmagneticcoupling

with careful positioning. Some kinds of interaction suck and

some are beneficial.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

Phase Shift?

Why Tube Gain Stages?

Deadlytopic.Thisisprobablythemostmisunderstoodtermfloating

aboutinthemixingcommunity.Lotsofpeopleblameornamephase

shift for just about any audio problem that doesn't sound like typical

distortion. We ask that you try to approach this subject with an open

mind and forget what you may have heard about phase for now.This

is not to be confused with "time alignment" as used in speakers, or

the "phase" buttons on the console and multi-mic problems.

The stupid answer is the name on the unit is "Manley Labs" and that

is what we do. Unlike a current trend, we do not use tubes for THD,

clipping character, cool marketing buzz-words, or plagiarism. We

began building tube gear because we preferred the sound when it

was un-fashionable and re-introduced these glowing gain bottles to

both the hi-fi and studio communities when there was virtually no

fresh tube designs available. We also stress that, its not just the

tubes, but the way they are used. The sound of a piece of gear is due

to many design details and many of the components - always has.

First - all analog EQs have phase shift and that the amount is directly

related to the "shape" of the EQ curve. Most digital EQs too. In fact,

one could have 3 analog EQs, 3 digital EQs, and an "acoustic

equivilant", and a passive EQ, each with the same EQ shape, and

ALL will have the same phase shift characteristics. This is a law, a

fact and not really a problem. The two exceptions are: digital EQs

with additional algorithms designed to "restore" the phase, and a

rarefamilyofdigitalEQscalledFIRfiltersbasedonFFTtechniques.

In the Massive Passive, the tube gain stages are new designs

developed for this unit. We try to use minimalist techniques where

ever possible and use the appropriate technology for the purpose.

Simple vacuum tube circuits can excel for medium gain voltage

amplifiers and high headroom output stages. A simple tube stage

offers better linearity than an equally simple transistor circuit.

Transistors have a logarithmic transfer curve and are essentially

current devices. Transistor circuits are typically built with huge

excess gain which is used for more feedback in order to tame the

linearity (THD) but this feedback seems to cause audible transient

problemsandisdirectlyresponsiblefortheharshclippingcharacter.

Op-amps, which can be less noisy and lower THD, are complex

circuits which force music through many transistors and may also

bring crossover distortion artifacts and headroom issues into play.

The only alternative would have been for the Massivo to use FET /

MOSFET highvoltagediscretecircuits.Someday,wemayintroduce

aversionlikethisbutdon'tphoneusupeverymonthaskingifweare

working on it. We'll let you know.

Second-OpinionsaboundthatanEQ'sphaseshiftshouldfallwithin

certain simple parameters particularly by engineers who have

designed unpopular EQs. The Massive Passive has more phase shift

than most in the filters and shelfs and leans towards less in the bells.

Does this correspond to an inferior EQ? Judge for yourself.

Third - Many people use the word "phase shift" to describe a nasty

quality that some old EQs have and also blame inductors for this. Its

not phase shift. Some inductor based EQs use inductors that are too

small, tend to saturate way too easily, and create an unpleasant

distortion.TheMassivo(ofcourse)usesmassiveinductors(compared

tothetypicaltype)whichwerechosenthroughlisteningtests.Infact

we use several different sizes in different parts of the circuit based

on experiments as to which size combined the right electrical

characteristics and "sounded best". The other very audible quality

people confuse with phase shift is "ringing". Ringing is just a few

steps under oscillating and is mostly related to narrow Qs. It is more

accurately described as a time based problem than phase shift and

is far easier to hear than phase shift. For our purposes, in this circuit,

these inductors have no more phase shift or ringing than a capacitor.

We use an exceptional op-amp/discrete circuit for the input buffer

in order to drive the 150 ohm (worst case) EQ circuit. Not an

appropriateplacefortubes. Thefirstdesignusedatransformer(3:1)

for impedance conversion but it had a 10 dB voltage drop and thus

10 dB more noise. The new input circuit isolates input loading and

allows the tube circuits to be better optimised. We use two similar

all-tubegainstagesperchannelfor interstageandoutputlinedrivers

which together cancels some distortion. The output is capable of

driving up to +37 dBu! This stage also uses a separate winding on

the output transformer (also custom designed) for a little negative

feedbacktoallowloweroutputimpedancesandminimaltransformer

coloration. In other words, because we expect some engineers

wanting to boost 20 dB at 100 Hz occasionally, the circuits had to

be capable of cleanly delivering it (regardless if the next piece in the

chain can deal with it). We used tubes for more headroom (300 volt

powersupply)ratherthanmoreclipping.Generallytoo,tubecircuits

clip a little smoother than mega-negative feedback IC circuits.

Fourth - A given EQ "shape" should have a given phase shift, group

delay and impulse response. There also exist easy circuits that

produce phase shift without a significant change in frequency

response. These are generally called "all-pass networks" and are

usually difficult to hear by themselves. You may have experienced

a worse case scenario if you have ever listened to a "phase-shifter"

with the "blend" set to 100% (so that none of the source was mixed

in) and the modulation to zero. Sounded un-effected, didn't it, and

that may have been over 1000 degrees of phase shift. Group delay

andimpulseresponsedescribethesignalintimeratherthanfrequency

and are just different ways of describing phase shift. Some research

shows these effects are audible and some not. The Massive Passive

tends to show that group delay in the mids is more audible than

towards the edges of the spectrum and there may be interesting

exceptions to generalities and conventional wisdoms. The audible

differencesbetweenEQsseemstohavemoretodowithQ,distortions,

headroom and topology than with phase shift.

Some may question "tube reliability" but most major studios have

many30or40yearoldtubecompressorsandEQsrunningeveryday

and some with the original tubes. Not many 15 or 20 year old

transistor units are still working or wanted. Tubes will eventually

burn out (so do transistors), however, usually you can easily get the

type of tube used 30 years ago and you won't need a soldering iron,

schematic or technician. Your parents probably used to "fix" the old

TV. The bottom line is, good gear tends to be more reliable, and if

a problem develops, is both easy to fix, and carries great factory

support.Weunderstandthatitsometimesinvolvesyourprofessional

livelihood and this is indeed often serious and you depend on it. If

this is the case, consider getting a few spare tubes which covers

90%+ ofemergencieswithimmediatefixes.Ourservicedepartment

has a great reputation with phone support and fast turn-arounds too.

Fifth - Phase Shift is not as important as functionality. For example,

we chose very steep slopes for some of the filters because we

strongly believe the "job" of a filter is to remove garbage while

minimally affecting the desired signal. A gentler slope would have

brought less phase shift but would not have removed as much crap.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

LOW SHELF CURVES

Just like most EQs, a 100Hz low shelf

doesn't reach "max" until about 10 Hz.

Normal Shelf Wide Bandwidth

(slope =about 4 to 5 dB/oct)

Special Shelf Medium Bandwidth

(slope = about 8 to 10 dB/oct)

"Pultec Shelf" Narrow Bandwidth

Bell Cut Narrow Bandwidth

(just for reference)

22Hz and 33Hz are different shelves when the Bandwidth is Narrow

The top graph is for the other 20 Low shelves

22 Hz Shelf Wide Bandwidth

22 Hz Shelf Narrow Bandwidth

33 Hz Shelf Wide Bandwidth

33 Hz Shelf Medium Bandwidth

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

MORE 100Hz SHELVES SHOWING

BOOST AND CUT WITH VARIOUS BANDWIDTHS

THIS IS ABOUT +1.5 DB

AT 300 Hz AND NEGLIGIBLE

LOW SHELF +20 WIDE BW

LOW SHELF +20 MED BW

LOW SHELF -20 MED BW

LOW SHELF -20 WIDE BW

SPICE SIMULATION CURVES

THESE CURVES SHOW ONE OF THE IDEOSYNCRACIES

AND IT IS POSSIBLE FOR A LF BOOST TO SOUND AS IF IT HAS LESS LOWS

DEPENDING ON THE FREQUENCY AND INSTRUMENT.

SIMILAR CURVES APPLY TO THE HIGH SHELVES AND

PARTICULARLY 10K AND 12K CAN BE STRANGE WHEN THE BW IS NARROW

100

NOTICE THIS 8 dB BOOST AT 100 Hz

WHILE SHELF CUTTING 100 Hz

LOW SHELF +20 WIDE BW

LOW SHELF +20 NARROW BW

LOW SHELF -20 NARROW BW

LOW SHELF -20 WIDE BW

AND NOTICE THIS 8 dB DIP

WHILE SHELF BOOSTING

THE HALF WAY (10 dB) POINT

HAS SHIFTED TO 50 Hz

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

TYPICAL BELL CURVES

"dB" set at max (20 dB) and changing the Bandwidth

Narrow Bandwidth

Bandwidth at 12:00

Wide Bandwidth

Bandwidth at 12:00

Narrow Bandwidth

Changing "dB" and Changing Bandwidth

Max Boost Narrow Bandwidth

12:00 Boost Narrow Bandwidth

Max Boost Wide Bandwidth

12:00 Boost Wide Bandwidth

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

LOW PASS FILTERS

1.5 dB bump on the 6K,

7.5K and 9K Filters

HIGH PASS FILTERS

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

THE GUTS

AC VOLT CHANGE

GAIN TRIM

+4 / -10 CHANGE

5751/12AX7

6414/12BH7

1) To Open: Disconnect the AC Power cable, let sit 15 minutes to allow the power supply capacitors to discharge. Remember

there are high voltages (300VDC) used in the Massive Passive and that the capacitors may continue to hold a charge after power

is removed - BE CAREFUL! We suggest using gloves and/or "one hand only" when the top is off.

RemovethesinglePhilipsMachinescrewlocatedonthetopperforatedpanel (towardsthebackandcenter).Slidetheperforated

panel towards the back.

2) Replacing Tubes: The tubes are marked as to their type 5751/12AX7 (for voltage gain) and 6414/12BH7 (for line drivers).

Another warning: Tubes get HOT. Let them cool before you attempt to touch them. Wiggle the tube back and forth as you pull

it up. If you suspect a tube, you can swap it with the other channel. If the problem follows the tube, you were right, it is that

tube. If not, try swapping another pair of tubes. It is a good idea to have a few spare tubes for emergencies as this will fix better

than 90% of most problems.

3) ChangingACMAINSVOLTAGE:DisconnecttheACPowercable.Seeonthediagramabovethe"ACVOLTCHANGE".

Use a small flat screwdriver set voltage change over switch to 120VAC or 240VAC operation. Replace main Fuse with correct

type and value. For fuse information refer to Pg. 29..

4) Changing the 1/4" phone jacks for -10dBv levels: The Massive Passive is factory wired for professional +4dBu levels for

both all of the XLR and 1/4" phone jacks. This procedure only changes the 1/4" jacks - not the XLRs. Do not assume that

"balanced" implies +4dBu levels or that "unbalanced" implies -10dBv consumer levels. Balanced only means that there are 3

wires in the cable and that 2 of these wires carry signal in opposite phases and that the same impedances (source especially)

exist. Unbalanced refers to a cable system with two wires (signal and ground). "+4dBu" refers to professional signal levels

(0VU=1.228 volts AC into 600 ohms). "-10dBv" refers to consumer signal levels common to hi-fi and low budget semi-pro

gear and is typically 14 db lower than pro levels. The common connector is the RCA style phono jack. 1/4" jacks are used for

a wide variety of signal types and levels, including +4, -10, instrument Hi-Z and speakers and headphones. 3 conductor plugs

are used for balanced signals, inserts (send and return) and stereo (L&R) which tend to be incompatible. Simply plugging in

a 1/4" to 1/4" cable from one piece of gear to the next is not guaranteed to work. You may have to check the operators manuals

if you run into problems.

See the diagram above for the DIP SWITCH locations and the next page for a closer look.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

DIP SWITCH SETTINGS

Channel 1

LEFT CARD

Channel 2

RIGHT CARD

-10dBv

+4 dBu

INPUT

OUTPUT

This procedure also results in a polarity reverse which means that the 1/4" outputs will reverse phase both in bypass and

EQ. Thismaynotbeproblembutyoushouldbeawareofthis. ItisdefinatelybettertokeepPCor"polaritycorrect"ingeneral.

If it is a problem, you may be able to correct the polarity simply by hitting the "phase button" on the corresponding channels

on the console or re-wiring the input plug so that signal is on the ring and the tip and sleeve are grounded via the shield. This

procedure does not affect the XLR levels or polarity. Sorry, but all previous Manley Pro Gear is only designed for +4dBu

levels and this is the first accomodation we have made for -10dBv. We really only did it this time because it was easy in this

circuit (it was an after-thought) and not intended in the basic design. We suggest using the XLRs first, the 1/4" at +4 levels

second and only doing this procedure for -10 levels, if you really must.

Here are the DIP SWITCHES. There are two switches on each little package or pair and two packages or pairs on each card

and two cards (channel one and channel two). The two switches should always be opposite - one ON and one OFF. UP is

ON. When (TOP PAIRS) the switches closest to the front panel are UP and ON and (BOTTOM PAIRS) the switches closest

to the front panel are DOWN and OFF the 1/4" jacks are set up for +4 dBu levels.When (TOP PAIRS) the switches closest

to the front panel are DOWN and OFF and (BOTTOM PAIRS) the switches closest to the front panel are UP and ON the

1/4" jacks are set up for -10dBv levels. The latter increases the input gain and decreases the output level. The pair of switches

closest to the top of the card set the input gain and the pair closest to the bottom set the output levels. On these output switches,

if both are OFF then you lose output to the 1/4" jack. If both are ON important parts of the circuit will be shorted together

and the unit will oscillate.

5) Removing individual EQ cards: You have to remove the top perforated panel first. Each card has a short ribbon cable

from the toggle switch board to the EQ card. You have to pull the ribbon connector from the EQ card before you pull out the

card. Once the ribbon is free at the EQ card end, unscrew the two allen keys holding the oblong black anodized panel. Gently

pull the card towards you, being sure the ribbon cable is not catching on any of the EQ card components. To return an EQ

card into its slot, do the procedure in reverse. The only difference is that you need to watch the back of the card and align

the 14 pins into the connector and not offset.

Considering there are no active components on these EQ cards it is unlikely they will need to be repaired or removed. There

are a few minor differences between the 4 EQ cards and you should not change the order. These differences involve the

"voicing" to the 22Hz, 33Hz, 16K and 27K shelves. There is a possibility (plan) for Manley to introduce optional cards for

the Massive Passive at some point in the future. We have discussed,"Mastering stepped cards", "Active Constant Q cards",

"Clipper Cards", "Notch Filter cards" and others. Due to the enormous interest in the "Mastering stepped cards" and they will

be the first to be done, however, remember that it is not possible in this design to really have constant 1dB or 1/2dB steps

becausethestepsizeisalways"scaled"tothebandwidth.Ifweusean11positionswitchsetupfor1/2dBstepsatthenarrowest

bandwidth, it results in only +/- 5.5 dB of available range and becomes less than +/-1.5 dB at wide bandwidths. On the other

hand, this is how all of the "Mastering Pultecs" we have built, also work. Over half of the mastering engineers have decided

to use the regular un-stepped version of the Massive Passive. The "Gain" pots seem to have reasonable resolution and

repeatability (twice what a conventional EQ does) and resetting is relatively easy. While step switches make a lot of sense

in some EQs, there may be less need in the Massive Passive and there are definite advantages of having the wide range of

control especially considering that the Massivo tends to not be as intrusive and "electronic colored" that we associate with

EQing in general. These options, of course, will not be free, and some options may need to be ordered at prior to the unit being

assembled. We suggest evaluating a stock unit before assuming that you need certain options.

The Massive Passive has been planned as an "EQ platform" that should accomodate special functions for a variety of

professional needs. There is no time-table planned for these cards and we will first annouce them, as usual, on our website

<www.manleylabs.com>.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

Equalizers

Now we have a new breed of digital parametrics that have few

limitations-otherthandoesitactuallysoundgoodandisitavailable

for your format and is it stable and bug-free and is it a hassle to get

a signal in and out of it? Within their realm, some are getting good.

EQs range from simple bass and treble controls on a hifi system to

pretty tricky parametric EQs and 1/3 octave graphic EQs. As an

audiofreak,youhaveprobablytriedquiteafewEQsandhavegotten

both great results and sometimes less than great and you probably

have a favorite EQ. Now that you probably have a digital system,

you may have questions about these digital EQs and the differences

between any analog and digital techniques. Let us begin at the

beginning, andthengetintosomerealtechniques. Whoinventedthe

first electronic tone control? Who knows? The first hints of “flat”

electronics came decades later. Simple bell and shelf EQs seem to

have been born in the 1930's for telephone company use. The Pultec

passive circuits came from that era at Western Electric. "Graphic

EQs" seem to have been invented in the mid 60's and were common

by the early 70's. A 19 year old prodigy, George Massenburg first

described, in a 1971 AES paper, the “Parametric Equalizer”.

Passive EQs have come out over the the 60 (150) odd years for a

variety of different purposes. If we include all inductor/capacitor

based EQs the list includes API 560's, most of Rupert's designs up

tothe80's,allthePultecsandPultecclonesandanumberofhighend

1/3octavegraphics.Essentiallythelistincludesmostofthedesirable

vintage EQs that comprise many engineer's all-time favorites. The

Massive Passive is one of the only non-clone tube passive EQs and

the only one we know of that is 4 band quasi-parametric with boost

and cut on each band. There ain't nothin' like it.

Now there are a large number of enhancers, exciters, extenders and

multi-band compressors, that usually use combination of EQ,

distortion, dynamic effects and deliberate phase shift to create

effects that are related to EQ. They all seem to come with a warning

"not to overuse". The more "secretive" it is the more we should hold

it suspect. Some of these are boxes are useful and often a reasonable

alternative to conventional EQs. Sometimes, we think "if my EQs

and Limiters did what I wanted, then I sure wouldn't use this". We

hope that the Massivo helps towards this quest. If you like what the

magic boxes do, use them, but carefully because the results are

rarely reversible.

All EQs do one thing — they can make some bands or areas of

frequencieslouderorquieterthanothers,manipulatingthefrequency

response. SpeakersandmicsdothattobutwenormallythinkofEQs

as something that allow us to alter the frequency response,

deliberately, with some knobs and buttons - including the GUI ones.

Some equalizers have no controls, they are part of a circuit and

generally are almost “invisible” to the user. A good example of this

is the EQ circuits used as “pre-emphasis” and “de-emphasis” used

for analog tape machines and radio broadcasting. The idea of these

is to boost the high frequencies before it hits the tape (or air), then

reduce the highs on playback (or reception). This reduces the hiss

and noise and usually allows a hotter signal which also improves the

noise performance. These EQs usually have trimmers available but

we would rarely consider using them for adjusting the tone. Instead,

theobjectistogetaruler-flatresponseatthispartofthe signalchain.

It is still called an equalizer. In fact the original definition of

“equalizer” was a device to restore all the frequencies to be equal

again, in other words, force the frequency response to be as flat as

possible.

What most EQ's have in common is in the shapes of the shelves.

Almost all shelves can be designated as "first order" which means

that a single capacitor (or inductor) is used to shape the frequency

response. Second order implies two components, etc. A first order

filter is generally 6 dB/oct, second order should be 12 dB/oct, third

order18,etc.ShelfEQsneverquitegetto6dB/octandatthesteepest

point seem to be 4.5 dB/oct which is pretty gentle and why a 10K

boost seems to affect mids. Bell curves are normally second order

butarrangedtocreateadampedresonance. Onafirstordershelf, the

capacitor may be surrounded by any number of components to

create gain or to simulate an inductor or for other purposes. These

other components are a large reason why different EQs sound

different, but that single capacitor sets up a frequency response

curve that is very similar for almost all EQs. The shelves on the

Massive Passive combine a first order shelf with a variable depth

second order bell. At wide bandwidths it acts first order and at

narrow bandwidths approaches third order. We have played with

truesecondandthirdordershelveswithreal12and18dB/octslopes

and they sound pretty damn good. When you boost or cut a band of

frequencies,withasteeperslope,youaffect thefrequenciesthatyou

are aiming for, with much less action on other frequencies that you

didn’t intend to touch. Of course, to build an EQ like this with

frequency selection (even more need) the component cost and

complexity rises fast.

Other common EQs that you are probably familiar with include the

common 1/3 octave graphic EQs with about 30 or 60 cheap sliders

across the front panel. These are usually a good tool for tuning a

room, but they may be a difficult thing to use for individual sounds.

Most1/3octEQsexcelwhenanumberoflittletweaksspacedacross

the spectrum are needed but not great for wide tonal changes. Too

many resonances. Some room tune experts are now relying on

parametricswithcontinuouslyvariablefrequencyknobsapparently

to "nail" the peaks. One reason 1/3 octave EQs have a bad name are

the"realtimeanalyzers"thatdisplayasingleaspectofthefrequency

response but without any time information, real or otherwise.

People often get much better results with warble tones, or tuning

rooms by ear with music. 1/3 octave EQs are appropriate for some

masteringtasksbutareprobablylessusedbecausetheytendtoscare

clients. The Massive Passive was not intended for room tuning.

Perhaps a future version with active constant Q mid bands in

combination with a good 1/3 octave EQ may be a very nice thing for

that tricky job.

The future of EQs may bring us bells where each side (high & low)

plus the top "flatness" can be adjusted separately. We are beginning

to see variations of shelves in plug-ins but so far it is just Tom

copying Dick who mimmicked an analog circuit by Harry. Perhaps

another parameter would be nice like, a sepately adjustable phase

shift or distortion. And if we could bend the rules of nature and have

a non-resonant bell with zero ringing, we might have something

trulynewtohear.Itwouldbeverytransparentbutprobablyquiteun-

natural sounding. There is validy to "physical modelling" even in

analog EQ circuits. "Natural" is kinda nice and very easy to listen to.

Parametric EQs come in lots of flavours, 3, 4 or 5 bands, most with

3 knobs per band and lots of variations. The earliest ones offered

only bell shapes, no shelves, no filters. Today's most common

variation has 2 mid bells with Q, a high shelf, low shelf and filters.

We see these in many consoles and in outboard EQs at a wide range

of prices. Almost all have limitations either in boost/cut range, Q

range, frequency range or overlap and audio performance.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

EQ TECHNIQUE

If mic choice is a mystery, you might want to research some Steve

Albini or George Massenburg interviews. Rather than guess wrong,

some engineers compare 3 or 4 probable choices. Some choose the

mic that minimizes EQing later, some hear the mic’s transient or

dynamiccharacterandanticipatewhatsomeEQshouldaddinanice

way. Some guys have been there, done that, and know exactly what

they like and don’t, (but always seem to be ready to learn more) and

bring in their own mics to get thier trademark sound.

One of the best things about almost all EQs is that you don’t really

need an instruction manual. You plug it in, turn a few knows and

when nothing happens you take it out of “bypass” and the rest is

easy.Youjustkeeptwiddlinguntilitsoundslikeyouwantitto.Most

digital devices like synthesizers and reverbs tend to get a lot of use

from the included presets. Most guys just don’t want to get into that

kind of “programming”. EQs are the opposite where most guys will

ignore the presets and start from scratch or flat. This section may be

most helpful for the musician non-engineers, and may be applicable

to EQs in and music engineering in general. There are no real rules

here, just hints, suggestions and bits of other peoples wisdom.

Thecloseryouhavethemictosomeinstruments,themorelikelyEQ

will be needed and less likely you will get both some great leakage

and some not-so-good leakage. Close miking is better when you

intend to sculpt the sound. Distant miking is better for documenting

(recording) the music. On vocals and room mics, many use big

diaphragm condenser tube mics where you want smoothness and

richness. Some tube mics may add a bit of “attitude” and

aggressiveness and some are very “real” sounding. The biggest

differences in this family of mics is the two lowest and highest

octaves and what the back of the mic sounds like. Small diaphragm

condensers can be fast, bright, clear but sometimes brittle, hard or

thin. Some are quite good for acoustic instruments, cymbals and hi-

hats.Watchout,thereisawidevariationinmaximumSPLandnoise

with these. Of course most engineers favor large diaphragm

condensers and typically use FET types on drums and guitars. The

pattern choice is an important tool. Remember that the proximity

effect(lowboosting)isbiggestin“figure8”, moderatein“cardioid”

and non-existent in “omni”. It is worth listening to both the “room

tone” and instrument in the 3 main patterns - it's often surprising.

The low roll-off (HP) should be used where ultra-lows are not

needed or wanted and the filter kills some of the room noise and air

conditioning rumble. Dynamic mics are more commonly used close

for guitar amps, drums and sometimes horns. Ribbon mics have

their resonance in the deep lows and typically have a softish top end.

They seem to have a more “ear-like” dynamic range. This makes

them a superb choice for raunchy guitar amps, horns and anything

that may be too edgy. Some are cardioid and some figure 8. Try

using 2 figure 8's as a stereo pair (rotated 90 degrees ala Blumlein).

Officially, miking technique is not EQing but it does some of the

same things and does it in the beginning. This makes EQing easier

and elegant.

Not so long ago, in order to get your chance at the console, you had

to follow the path from cleaning toilets, to making coffee, to

assisting, to engineering to producing. It cost years of micro-

paychecks and humble pie. Not so anymore. If you want your turn

attheconsole,youbuyaconsoleorbethemainemployeeataprivate

studio. Thereweresomebenefitsofwatchingtheoldpro’smakethe

gear sound great and being able to ask how and why. What we hope

to do here is be a small substitute for those who didn’t get that

opportunity. Specific settings for EQs are different for different

situations.SomeoftheseexamplesdriftabitfromjustEQingbutwe

include them for reference and to make EQing less of a fixer.

LiveSound:Inthisauthor’sexperience,livesoundusuallyrequired

the most drastic and heavy handed EQ. Every factor contributes to

this: Not the greatest mics, lots of leakage, feedback, strange

soundingstagesandrooms,questionablehousespeakers.Noluxuries

like mic positioning, just a quick sound-check (sometimes) and the

doors open. Tapes from live shows are almost as tough. If you are

accustomed to studio recording and clean tracks, you may need to

adjustyourtechniquesinahurry.Sometimes,yougetthesewonderful

clean tapes with a lot of energy. These tapes should be easy. Other

tapes can be pretty messy. Some of your usual studio tricks are not

working this time. With these tapes, you just might try taking the

“house mixer” approach. Pull down the effects, there’s too much

leakage, and dig in with those EQs. It might help to start out with a

good “fader only” mix and avoid using those “solo” buttons until

you get the EQ roughed out. Gates may help, but may be audible and

disconcerting if the leakage is gruesome. You might have to write

mutesearlyandavoidtoomuchcompression.EQingthevocalsmay

causealotofleakageproblemsifyouboostlowsorhighssignificantly.

If you get a raw tape with virtually no EQ or compression when it

was recorded you may need to use "unusual" and more EQ on many

of the tracks. Usually, the best approach is to try to smooth it out but

not kick it into submission, but remember, this is raw and may need

more help than studio tracks.

When you do have to EQ, the band tracking session is the time to be

careful and conservative. Most experienced pro engineers don’t

wing it here. Safe, fast, ready, recorded. It may not sound as

“slamming” as it could be, but wait, it still gets overdubs and a real

mix. Engineers who don’t play it safe at the right time tend to find

other occupations like accounting. You can fix the EQ and

Compression later particularly if you are working digital. You may

want to save those initial more-or-less flat tracks though, for a few

days or weeks, just in case.

Tracking the band: (in the studio) A bunch of musicians, a bunch

of mics, and typically not a bunch of budget. Well, at least you have

some good mics. By far, the best way to EQ at this stage is to use

those good mics to your advantage. With the right mic and the right

position,verylittleconsoleEQisneeded.Usetheroomsappropriate

to the instrument and use separation to control unwanted spillage,

get the instruments physically sounding awesome (we wish), then

usethemicstocreateanaturalpicturewithrealroomambiance. The

betterthemictechnique,thelessEQthatwillbeneeded.Infact,with

less fix-it EQ, the easier it will be to finesse your available EQ . Hit

"Record", finesse it in the mix. More important to get the vibe, than

to burn out the band doing sound checks and tweaks.

Another little detour. There always seems to be some fascination

withre-capturingsomeofthat60’sandevenearly70’ssound.These

were the days of 4 track and 8 track analog machines and no time-

code or sync systems. They didn’t have a lot of gear, so it was

important to have the good stuff. Much of it was vacuum tube or

passive. Overdubs were a luxury but they could mix those 4 or 8

tracks to mono or stereo and bounce them over to another machine.

It was analog tape so you couldn’t do it more than a few times. So,

what are the priorities when you record that way?

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

1) The song and the vocals was what producers wanted and perhaps

that hasn’t changed much. Bands were recorded with live vocals

back then. Even overdubs were a band thing. Much of the signature

of both the British or American sound were the vocal harmonies.

Same today.

The last problem was that they only had a few weeks to shout at each

other. Avoidthattechnique. Yougottabecreative, playitbyear, use

your own variation if it works out that way this time. Only the final

result counts. There are many ways to get a killer sound and too

damnfewthatworkeverytime. Youmayknowmostofthisalready.

2) It was only practical to record as a band, as a group. They rarely

used a click, except for TV & film scores. The “groove”, as today,

was important, but it was a little less rigid. It sometimes meant

MANY band takes with different tempos and stylings.

General Suggestions: If you are recording acoustic instruments,

the most important first step is going out to the studio and listening,

evaluating and memorizing. Next step, if there is a way you can fix

a sound physically, like changing a drum skin, or tuning a tom, this

is the time and place. If you can, you should attempt to improve the

mic choice and positioning. There’s always room for improvement,

but most often the obstacle is “available time”. EQing is usually

faster than experimenting with mics unless the producer wants

“perfection”. EQ is maybe more dangerous though and a poor

substitute for great mic technique.

3) Arrangements were often written in stone. It was cool to walk in

with a working rehearsed arrangement. Sometimes professional

arrangers were hired. The fewer the instruments, the easier it is to

make each one sound great. They ‘featured’ instruments by writing

musical rests for the other parts rather than moving a fader. Big and

powerful dynamics could mean more players, more chairs.

4) The mixes were critical because the word re-mix wasn’t created

yet. Remember, each “bounce” had to be a real mix and these

submixes were the basis of the final mix. This is where they EQed

most. PartoftheBritishsoundwasdippingabitbetween200Hzand

1K on some instruments . It was the “proper” way to clear space for

each instrument. Bass was hinted as the secret of rock and roll. Part

of the American sound was both the bored union engineers and the

young rookies. There wasn’t much gear so they stretched it and

pushed it hard. Simple shelf EQs and filters were the norm and “bell

curves” were rare until the mid 70’s. However, they sometimes had

5 to 7 band graphic EQs. They could and did cut tape so they mixed

in sections and spliced - no automation.

5)Notmucheffectsindemdays;tapeslap, livechamberreverband/

or EMT plates. Some were OK and some were plain bad. They did

focus more on creating an acoustic space with the mics. It wasn’t

until 16 track that it became fashionable to focus on separation and

dead rooms. Then we heard a lot of overdubs and double tracking

and we got the 70’s sound.

6) DI boxes and synths were very rare, percussion was normal,

“unusual” instruments were cool. Song “structure” often leaned

towardafewstandardpatterns(ABABCAB).Itwasamoreinnocent

era but more likely to be censored. On the other hand, the phrase

“politicallycorrect”wouldhavebeenviewedasajoke,anoxymoron.

Vocals: There is something that makes EQing vocals very difficult.

Human beings have evolved hearing fine tuned to other human’s

voices. Not many people know precisely what a drum sounds like

butalmosteverybodycanrecognizewhenthevocalsoundsweirdor

natural. Another common factor is the goal of making a mediocre

vocal sound awesome through the miracle of electronics. The

toughestoneiswhenthesingerdeeplydesirestosoundliketheiridol

andthinksthattheonlydifferenceisthegearandsettings.Withluck,

you may work with a great singer and discover you need no EQ and

it sounds incredible. Same is true with spoken words. Some of the

bestpaidguysarethoseprofessionalvoicesthatdonarration, voice-

oversandcharactervoices.Theydon’tdoitwithEQ,it'sinthevoice.

If the singer is having headphone adjustment problems, try flipping

the phase of the mic and asking the singer which they prefer. Some

mics are out of phase with some people’s bone conduction or the

headphones are 180 degrees out, but there seems to be 50-50 odds

that flipping the phase will sound better to them and about 99%

likelyitwillsoundthesametoyou(untilyouputontheirphonestalk

into the mic and check it out).

We commonly chop off the lows while recording voice to kill room

rumbleand“pops”.SomeuseaHPswitchonsomemics,someangle

the mic so its not directly facing the mouth, some use the mic pre

filters and some use their console EQ. The Massive Passive HP

filters are as good or better than anything you have been using for

filters. The other most common technique is boosting highs. Part of

this is because somebody used a dull mic because it was advertised

as “warm”. The other reason to boost is a bright, airy voice may be

needed with massively over-dubbed, over-synthed mixes just to get

above the track. Watch out for boosting too much esses as you try

to get it bright. Conventional high shelves (even if set for 16K) will

boost the esses and possibly the mids. The Massive Passive was

designed to not have that very common problem and allow some

unusually gorgeous highs. Some engineers, avoid EQing to tape

while recording, but use it in the monitor or mix channels as needed.

This way, they still get a good working mix and may hear if

headphone leakage will end up being a problem. On the other hand,

as the tracks add up, some engineers find it more practical to EQ

tracks while recording, so that speedy fader mixes are simple for the

monthsofoverdubs.Inthemix,ifyoufindyourselfwantingtoboost

alotofhighs, trydippingthemidsandboostingthehighsless. Ifyou

still need a de-esser use it as the last processor in the vocal chain in

the mix. Wanna know one of the least expensive and best de-essers?

“A bit of chewing gum or wax filling the gap in the singer’s front

teeth.”

Some of these techniques may be useful to you whether you are

attempting to resurrect the 60s or the get the cool grunge of the 90’s.

Some tricks like the editing of mix sections can be transposed to

workstations with all the advantages of both. It sure can be a better

alternative to an long automated homogenized mix. Limiting

overdubs may inspire getting that perfect band groove and may spur

creativity. Limiting yourself to shelves and filters or old gear may

be a silly way to get the 60s sound. When you want to lean on

shelves, the Massive Passive EQ shelves and filters are about as

good as it gets. In other words, an old analog engineer will feel right

at home - well “hear” right at home”. Now if you could just remove

that computer screen.......

Individual Sounds: There just isn’t a general EQ that works on all

snaredrums,orkicksorvocals.Toomuchdependsontheplayer,the

instrument, the room, the mic, and a hundred other variables. We

heardofoneproducerthatinsistedoncloningaguitarsoundheonce

gotbyinsistingonusingthiselaboratechainthathehaddocumented

of amps, mics, several vintage compressors and several old EQs.

There were 3 problems. This producer insisted that only the exact

settingshehadsocarefullynotedwereused. Itwasadifferentstudio

with different individual units, like mics, like rooms, consoles,

engineers.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

Percussion: There are two big tricks. The first is don’t trust VU

meters-usepeakmetersanddon’tgettooclosetofullscale. Thekey

word is percussion and the peaks or transients are very short and

impressively hot. When in doubt, turn it down. Actually when in

doubt, listen to a short bit recorded, then turn it down if it was

crunchy. The second trick is to EQ these tracks in the mix, not

soloed. We tend to make things bigger by themselves, but the

function of percussion is to fit in the track and work with the other

instruments. They don’t have to be loud to work. Be aware that

boosting mids or highs will make peaks easier to clip too.

Rather than try to do all your compression while recording vocals,

save some for the mix. This takes a little pressure off of finding the

“ultimate”compressorwithperfectsettingsandyouhavetheoption

of compressing the vocals as a group.

RealDrums:Typicallyneedlots‘o’EQbecausewetypicallyclose-

mike individual drums. Big shelf boosts on the Massive Passive are

particularly good. When EQing watch out for leakage so have the

drummerplaythewholekitalternatingwithadrumyouareworking

on-keepthoseotherfadersup.Sometimes,boostingtoomuchhighs

on a snare or toms may boost the hi-hat and cymbals out of control.

Gates may be needed in profusion when the close-mic style and

drastic modification is desired. Another consideration is EQ ringing

and time smear. Drums particularly are good at showing off bad EQ

settings. The transients "trigger" ringing, so big narrow bell boosts

becomeobviousEQ.Usuallythisistobeavoided.Steepfiltersbring

group delay which smears the time clues and transient accuracy,

especially when the filters are nearer the mid band. Watch out for

this. Occasionallythese "effects"canbe useful especiallyifusedfor

their effect-value such as transforming a click into a drum.

Bass:Goodspotforareminder. Thebassandkickareusuallymeant

to work together musically yet remain separate and distinct. The

usual idea is if you have a deep bottom kick then the bass guitar

doesn’t cover that space. Put it in the low mid part of the spectrum.

Or you can make the bass guitar extra-deep and the bass drum in a

higher part in the spectrum. You also want to watch where you place

the kick’s attack and the harmonics of the bass. If you use a mic on

the amp plus a DI, expect that when you mix them, they very often

sound half out-of-phase. You can use a delay to try to compensate

the DI or just use the Massive Passive filters to get the DI lows (filter

from the mids up) and mix in the mic/amp highs (filter or shelf cut

the lows). What is easier, simpler and can be best is, using only the

amp with a damn good selected mic and using the Massive Passive

low shelf to nail the bottom.

Spend a little less time working on individual drum sounds and get

the mix up sooner and get the groove going earlier, then go back to

adjust EQ as needed. Keep in mind that the hi-hat and snare work

together, whichshouldfitwiththebassdrumandbass, andthatmost

people hear the drums as one instrument and mostly engineers hear

them as several individual sounds or tracks. The blend and groove

are most important, the image or room sound is what sets the “tone”.

The EQ and processing may be used to ensure the best overall

groove and image rather than make each drum “perfect”.

Guitar: My favorite difficult instrument to EQ. So many different

guitarsoundsandsolittletime. Filteringthehighfreqsonloudamps

can make them more amp-like, natural and kills that “studio” buzzy

distortion. Check out what filtering highs does with the Massive

Passive. The low-pass filter is one of the main functions of speaker

simulators. Feelfreetoplaywiththesimulator’scontrolsalongwith

the Massive Passive LP filters. The mids are especially critical and

might take some drastic EQ. This is where you get “singing” lead

solos or biting ones or more unusual sounds and its how you can

separateafewpartsfromeachother. Togetthatbigbottomyouhear

in the studio but not in the control room, means that you should have

used a ribbon mic and/or miked the cabinet back too. You may still

need to EQ but be sure you have some solid lows to work with. The

secret to acoustic guitar is no EQ. Getting the sound with instrument

choice and with careful miking is how the professionals do it. Again

you can dip mids or shelf boost the highs. Sometimes a notch and/

or HP filter is absolutely needed.

Yes, it is legal to EQ and Limit overhead and room mics. EQ both

sides of a stereo pair identically and “link” limiters. If you are lucky

you can almost get most of the drum sound from the overheads or

room mics, with some bass drum and maybe snare snuck in. You

should also consider suggesting to the drummer to bring lighter,

brighter, smallercymbalsinthanwhatheorsheuseslive. Eitheryou

know why we say this or you will find out.

Some engineers use a combination of a filter (set between 25 an 50

Hz) and a shelf boost (between 100 and 200Hz, roughly). It almost

approximates a standard bell boost, but sounds drier and tighter and

stillhuge.Theshelftendstoringlessordecayfasterthanbells,while

the filter keeps it clean and under control.

Leslies: This reminds us of a trick question. When you have a

rotating baffle for the lows and a rotating horn for the highs, what is

the most critical thing to EQ. Answer - the mids. If you somehow

lose the mids, it will sound weak. You can make it bark or bite or

soften it into a smooth pad, but the attitude should fit the song, not

some memory of some legendary B3 unless it was playing a similar

part in a similar texture.

Sampled Drums: Probably pretty good right out of the box. Try

using a strange sample and using EQ, compression and clipping to

turnitintosomethingtotallydifferent.Youcanturnaclicktrackinto

a bogus kick drum. It is fun and you might never run out of sounds

this way.

Some of the genesis of the rap kick and “808” rediscovery was some

NYengineerswhowoulduseadrummachinepart, totriggeranoise

gate on the studio’s oscillator set at 40 or 60 Hz. Others found it

easier to get similar results with an extinct vintage 808 drum

machine sound sampled and EQed. Many went all the way back to

using purely the 808s and these little drum machines became sought

after, which then sparked an industry of 808 clones and sample

disks. These things seem to start off cool and clever and became a

bit mindless and overused, then sneered at for a few years, then

makes the cycle again. Fashion... At least we don’t have Rodeo

Drive and Milan suggesting we replace all our gear every season

Piano: Different engineers have different ideas on how a piano

shouldsoundandhowtomicandprocessit. Somuchdependsonthe

piano, the player and musical style. Rockers generally want it hard

and brite, jazz guys like it warm and classical guys expect distance

and perspective. We might suggest starting off with a gentle dip in

the 200 Hz to 500 Hz area. The piano may benefit with a shelf boost

in the upper mids and highs, but be gentle in the recording stage.

Remember it is a percussion instrument and a boost may make it

harder to record without clipping. Being such a full range &

dynamic instrument, leave yourself options for the mix.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

Loops: The trick? Make the bad stuff sound good and the good stuff

soundbad. Putitalltogetherandgonutswiththemuteswitches. For

that ol’ telephone filter, first try the two mid bands with deep shelf

cuts. You might expect to just use the filters but these ones probably

neither go high enough nor low enough for this purpose so use them

in combination with those deep shelves.

3)Therestofthegearinmajormasteringhousesisalsosoimportant

that “cost is no object”. The engineers regularly “shoot-out” new

gearandwillalwaysbuyifitISbetter.Inapromasteringhousethere

are no weak links in the chain and no semi-pro gear.

4) There isn’t a single processing unit that is the key but more

like a combination of several that are mostly slightly utilized. A

common scenario is a combination of esoteric analog parametric

EQs and compressors along with the digital EQs and dynamics

processors, all used together and each for a few dB of its

strongest features. Manley Labs is one of the very few names

commonly seen in most major mastering facilities.

Synths: There is a lot of room to EQ on analog synths and often less

with samplers. Watch out for sub-harmonics and ultra-deep lows

that the small monitors don’t reproduce. What you hear in the studio

and what “they” hear with a subwoofer can be different, and that is

often an understatement. Some car systems are a good place to

evaluate the very deep subwoofer zone.

The newest and least common piece of gear in project level

mastering is “DSP Multi-band Compressors”. Multi-band

compressors have been used to maximize the loudness of radio

and network broadcasts for about 20 years. Do you really like the

radio squash? Contrary to the ads, a single piece of gear does not

make anybody into a mastering engineer. This also does not

mean these devices are bad, only that they can be somewhat

dangerous, or powerful and sometimes amazing when used

properly and carefully. Rather than think of them as multi-band

compressors, you will find that they act like multi-compressed

EQs. These compressors are changing the EQ all the time so it is

important to understand the specifics of the controls and what

each does to the sound. Just because it is multi-band doesn’t

excuse a poorly set-up compressor, in fact, it makes it worse

because EQ changes are easier to notice than “flat” gain changes.

The most exercised button should be the bypass switch. The

mastering engineer may not be able to fix up a tape butchered by

these toys. It is becoming a common story, where the mastering

engineer sends the client back to re-mix because of an abused

multi-band toy.

More often than not, try to leave space for the rest of the tracks by

dipping a bell curve strategically. It works better than boosting bells

(into resonance) on the remaining tracks. If the arrangement is

dense, avoid making every sound as big as a house. The secret to

amazing sounding individual tracks are sparse sections where these

soundsarefeatured.Thearrangementalsohelpscreatecontrastsand

sets up the thicker sections to be huge. LP Filters can be very

interesting on synths because a LP filter sound is a functional part

of analog synth hardware (or software). Try making up a synth-like

resonant filter with one of the high shelves deeply cut and the

Bandwidth turned way up. Too bad you can’t sweep it.

Mixes: There are two ways to process a mix. The first is to set up the

2 mix EQ and compression early in the rough mix stage, then mix

into the processor. The second and more common way is to get a

finished mix then EQ and compress. The first way forces you to mix

differently and can produce results that can be powerful, but it can

also be dangerous in less than experienced hands. More and more

guys are EQing their final mixes. Sort-of pre-mastering or skipping

the mastering process altogether. Should you?

One can prepare for mastering, fairly simply. Mix to a well

maintained 1/2" tape or to a 20 or 24 bit digital format. Many

guys mix to DAT only, but mastering engineers will almost

always suggest analog. Best format - mix to all three and let the

mastering engineer choose. The best prep for the mastering

engineer is a well balanced mix. It's fine to compress and EQ the

mix, but absolutely don’t overdo it. Be careful, you can mess up

months of work if you get carried away. The time to de-ess is

during mix as the final step in the vocal chain. De-essing a mix in

mastering can be 10 times harder. You have probably heard that

one of the reasons we master, is to get hotter levels. True, but

keep in mind that anybody can compress 20 dB, squash and clip

and get super-loud but that mastering engineers do not do that.

The way they compress and limit typically gets about 6 dB into

the red on a VU meter and rarely sounds compressed or

crunched. It is not only about getting louder, but “optimally loud”

and not at all messed up in the process.

Let us describe some of the main ideas in mastering from the

mastering engineer’s “order of importance” and you can decide.

1) The most important thing in mastering chain is the mastering

engineer.ThesepeopleEQandcompress,editandcheckeveryone’s

“final” mixes, a CD or two a day, 5 days a week, and year in and year

out. They specialize in the most subtle paths to the polished product.

They are expected to bring the clients tapes to be “ready for prime-

time” quality and be sure that a problem free master is absolutely

ready for any pressing plant. Of course, you are going to have to pay

for this “expert” service.

2) The most important piece of gear for mastering is the tweaked-up

speaker systems. The best mastering engineers typically spend a

great deal of money, time and effort to be sure that their room is true

and accurate (to them) and that every last bit of performance is

squeezed out of the entire system and that it is that way every day.

Afterall, thebigreasonweneedtogothroughthemasteringprocess

is that most of us mix on cheap, small speakers, self-powered or not.

The kinds of speakers most of us use for mixing are about 2%-25%

of the reference quality most mastering engineers use every day. If

youdescribeyourmonitorsas“Iguessthespeakersaregoodenough

to master on” then they’re not and if you say “ I KNOW these

particular monitors in this room are good for mastering” then they

probably are. These may well be the same speakers too. Do you

understand the difference? (its not just attitude)

The best way to prepare for mastering is to do the best mix you

can. Don't go nuts on trying to pre-master, by over-compressing

and EQing and especially "multi-band limiting". The idea is to let

the mastering engineer do their job and not try to do it for them.

Leave them enough room to work and get optimal compression.

The other thing to remember is to know the speakers you are

mixing on. An 8 inch woofer should not sound like an 18 incher.

The second most common problem is from engineers who have

cranked up their sub woofers and end up with a mix with no

bottom. Play other peoples great mixes on your speakers fairly

frequently. It helps maintain your reference.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

The Circuit

If you are attempting to master the project or “pre-master” (this

year’shot,newaudiobuzzword)yourself,herearesomesuggestions.

Take a week off after mixing, then listen to the mixes on as many

different systems as you can, friend’s homes, cars, boom boxes,

headphones, etc. andmakenotes. Withaneyeonthosenotes, adjust.

Now check it out on some of those systems again, before you send

it out. 80% of mastering is ensuring quality and confidence through

expertise,20%isknobturningandthenitis“whichknobs,howlittle

(as opposed to much) and when”. On the other hand, it is only two

tracks and probably you only intend to do a minor touch-up and you

are sure it will help. It may not be as good as it gets but it is a valid

improvement and you are not doing anything radical or stupid,

so..........go for it!

The Massive Passive is a not a particularly complicated circuit. The

audio comes in, is converted from balanced to unbalanced and DC

servo'd and given enough power (a few watts) to drive the EQ (and

output in "bypass") on the two vertical boards that the 1/4" jacks are

mounted on. It uses a BB OPA2604 op-amp and a complementary

pair of medium current transistors richly biased into near class A

operationforthis.Thesetwoboardsalsoholdtheoutputtransformers

and loading networks as well as the bypass relays. The transformer

has a tertiary feedback winding which doubles as the -10dBv output

which sort of explains why it is out-of phase.

The buffered signal is fed to the "buss boards" that connect all of the

EQ cards. The signal is first applied to the "dB" pots used for boost.

The "dB' pots on each EQ board are 10K dual reverse log and used

as a parallel voltage divider so that a boost is actually just less cut.

From here it goes to the filters and then to the main tube board for

about 25 dB of make-up gain. Then back to the buss board which in

turn feeds the "cut" sections then the front panel "gain" pots. From

hereanotherstageofmake-upgainandoutthroughbig"Multi-Cap"

capacitors to the ouputs. The boost and cut sections are separated

this way so that similar impedances can be created which allows the

same EQ components to be used for the same frequencies.

Miscellaneous Techniques:

Rather than stress out trying to make one EQ solve every problem,

try a combination of two different EQs or one for recording and a

different one in mixing that track. It's like an old engineer’s trick.

Rather than look suspect with an EQ boosted 12 dB, he would use

three different EQs, each with 4 dB. It looked way better, very “pro”

and seriously into gear. Ever have producer looking over your

shoulder, checking out your "curves"?.... Nuff said.

Alsoitisworthexperimentingwiththeorderofprocessorsespecially

when compression, limiting and clipping is involved. We get asked

whether it is best to EQ then compress or the other way around.

People do it both ways and each has advantages depending on the

situation. If you compress first, then you should be able to boost EQ

more without clipping. If you compress after EQ, then you smooth

the track based on the new tone, which may be more leveled or

“even” sounding . De-essing, if needed, is best and easiest as a final

or next to final stage. Limiting should be the last step and should be

done gently (a few dB) because more rarely sounds better.

AlmostallofthepartsoneachEQboardarecapacitorsandinductors

used for frequency shaping. The 11 position two deck Greyhill

switches just select the combinations of C's & L's. Closest to the

front is shelf selection. The only slightly complex part is the around

the toggle switches. In "bell mode" they have to switch each EQ

sectionfromtheboostcircuitintothecutcircuit. In"shelfmode"the

components for shelf get switched and the bell components get

switched into the opposite section. It uses a relay for this. The same

circuit that controls the relays also powers the boost/cut LEDs.

Lastly, the toggle switches also restrict the widest bells in bell mode

so that at least 6 dB of EQ is available, and allow a few little tricks

to voice the two lowest and highest shelves. "Bandwidth" control is

just variable series resistance, just like a Pultec.

EQing a sub-group saves using a lot of EQ on individual tracks and

tends to blend and mesh the tracks into a cohesive group and usually

makes it easier to mix them. Lots of us group, EQ and compress the

drums or backing vocals. You should start off with the group EQ,

then the individual channel EQs should fall into place easier. Of

course, your console needs to be capable of this.

Thetwotubeamplifiers(perchannel)are 3triodecircuitswhichuse

one half of a 5751 for voltage gain and direct coupled into a 6414

totem-pole for current gain. The first amplifier uses less than 6 dB

of plate to grid feedback. The second amplifier uses the tertiary

winding via a trim pot back to the 5751 cathodes for variable

feedback and final gain trim.

And for the opposite approach....Some guys “split” a track (or

“mult”itorcopyit)andEQonechannellightlyandoneheavily,then

mix them. The advantage is that you can easily change the tone by

changing the mix in automation. It also gives twice as many options

for adding reverbs and delays now that there are two channels but

expect the fader moves to affect the effect sends and balances.

The power supply provides about 350 VDC for the tubes. The multi

section "pi filtering" is on the tube board and is held pretty constant

by 3 zener diodes. The supply also gives two 12V medium current

outputs for the tube filaments, LEDs and relays. The two regulators

mounted on the back panel are for these 12V supplies. There is also

a positive and negative 18V regulated supply for the input circuit

which is also sent to the buss board for future purposes. Lastly the

power-on muting is done with a 555 on the power supply board. It

feeds the "bypass" switches which feed the relays.

You probably thought of this one - Chaining one channel of the

Massive Passive into the next one so that you have 8 bands. Here is

the cool trick - put a distortion device in that chain between the EQs.

Thiswayyouhaveincrediblecontrolofthedistortioncharacter. For

example, you can boost highs before the distortion, which tends to

reduce out the tendency to mostly distort the low mids, then remove

some highs after the distortion which removes some of the buzzy

edge. This is leaning towards simulating analog tape and guitar

amps.....

Theonlypotentialtrickypartoftracingthesignalisduetothesignal

levels changing (dropping 20 to 25 dB) a few times and being

restored a few times. The good news is that, for all the parts in the

Massive Passive, there is only a small number in the signal path and

mostly in parallel. Over 95% of the repairs should only involve

replacing a tube and verifying the gain is unity or needs a little trim.

The first, last and only real rule about EQ is “if it sounds good, do

it”. Feel free to experiment. Enjoy and please let us know what

adventures you are having with the Massive Passive.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

Translations

This is just a few commonly used musical terms translated into technical terms or specific Massive Passive techniques. Note that

these are fairly loose descriptions and definitions. Your mileage may vary.

Bottom, Fat

for more:

the deep lows

bell boost below 100Hz or use any low shelf up to even 330Hz. When you use a shelf this high, you

should experiment with the bandwidth control more towards straight up or towards narrow.

Tubby

probably too much lows.Try removing somewhere between 82 to 220.

Sibilance

between 5kHz and 8kHz for men & between 6kHz and 10kHz for women

for less:

Bell cut at these freqs or Shelf boost with mid to narrow bandwidth freqs from 4700 to 27K to get more

air and ultra-highs while removing sibilance. The exact frequency and bandwidth depends on the singer

or source. The typical problem either is a gap in the singer's teeth (that a little chewing gum or wax in

the gap may help) or HF distortion typical in many mics and low budget gear. It is better to cure the

problem at the source rather than later resort to yet more EQ and de-essers.

Nasal, Squawk

Honk

corresponds to too much mids. A Bell cut between 820 and 1500 should help.

much like "nasal" but probably a little lower. Probably between 400 and 800.

Muddy

usually corresponds to too much low mids and not enough highs. First try bell dipping 220 Hz to 440 Hz

Presence, Edge

for more:

usually upper mids, ie 2200 to 4700

try a gentle bell boost at 3300 to start.

Air

the extreme highs like 16kHz or 27kHz. With this EQ you can also try any of the shelves above 6800

and experimenting with the bandwidth control.

Telephone Sound

Attack

First try deep shelf cuts using the two mid bands set approximately for 390 and 4700. Experiment with

the bandwidths and frequency selects. Try adding the 220 and 6K filters last rather than first.

usually the upper mids but depends on the instrument. For example on drums and bass for more attack

try boosting 2200 Hz, for piano try 4700 or 5600. Limiters usually remove some of these transient heavy

areas and may seem to dull the attack. The cure for that is longer "attack times" on the limiter.

Thump

corresponds to the deep lows like between 33 and 68.

Warmth

many vague meanings depending on who said it and in regards to what instrument. You can try adding

low mids anywhere below 330 (try 250) or removing the extreme highs (try the 18K and 12K filters).

Lately some people mean the sound is too clean or "digital". You can use a combination of shelf boost

and shelf cut on the two lowest bands to drive the EQ section hard then restore it to reasonable levels and

flatness. You can also try hitting the EQ with a boosted signal and turning the return point down. The

usual culprit is toomanycoldcrispysynthsandsamplersandyoulikelycan'tchangethatdecisioneasily.

We include a "preset" near the back page that gives the maximum THD if you want to try this approach.

Pop

with vocals usually means the excessive "P"s and "B"s when the singer is on-axis and close to the mic.

First try a "popper stopper" or equivilant and/or try swivelling the mic so that it points to the singers

shoulderandusethe120or68filter. Withsnaresitcanmeanthefundamentalanywherefrom330to1200

Hz depending on the drum.

"FM DJ"

Lots o' lows and highs. Try dipping mids first. The trick is to start with a real DJ and use a little EQ.

"Old British"

Clear some muddiness by removing some 220 to 470 and boost a bit of presence around 2200 to 4700.

An alternative technique is boosting the "defining character" or "note" of each instrument which entirely

depends on the instruments. Best to do it without "solo's" and in the mix.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

TROUBLE-SHOOTING

There are a number of possible symptoms of something not quite right, some may be interfacing, others we will touch

on as well. If you suspect a problem the following paragraphs should help.

NO POWER, NO INDICATORS, NADA - Probably something to do with AC power. Is it plugged in? Check the fuseon

the back panel. A blown fuse often looks blackened inside or the little wire inside looks broken or it's resistance measures

higher than 2 ohms. A very blackened fuse is a big hint that a short occured. Try replacing the fuse with a good one of the

samevalueandsize. Ifitblowstoo, thenpreparetosendtheunitbacktothedealerorfactoryforrepair. Thefuseisaprotection

device and it should blow if there is a problem. If the unit works with a new fuse, fine, it works. Sometimes fuses just blow

for unknown reasons.

LIGHTS BUT NO SOUND - First try plugging the in and out cables into each other or some other piece of gear to verify

that your wires are OK. If not fix them or replace them. Assuming that cables passed sound - it probably is still a wiring thing.

The output XLRs are transformer balanced which require both PIN 2 and PIN 3 to be connected somewhere. When driving

an unbalanced input ( inserts on some consoles) PIN 3 needs to be grounded or connected to PIN 1. Same with the unbalanced

1/4inchjacks-ifdrivingabalancedinputyoucan'tignorethenegativeside. Itneedstobeconnectedtothesleeveofthephone

plug. Another way to do basically the same thing is join PIN 1 and PIN 3 on the XLR male at the destination. Easiest way

- Use the balanced with balanced, unbalanced with unbalanced. That is why the options are there.

LEVELS SEEM TO BE WRONG, NO BOTTOM - Several possible scenarios. Manley uses the professional standard of

+4 dBm = Zero VU = 1.23 volts AC RMS. A lot of semi-pro gear uses the hi-fi reference of -10 dBm = Zero VU. This is a

14dBdifferencethatwillcertainlylookgoofyandmaytendtodistort. Oftenthereareswitchesonthesemi-progeartochoose

theproreferencelevel. Ifthelosslookscloseto6dBanditsoundsthinthenonehalfofthesignalislost. Thecauseisprobably

wiring again. One of the two signal carrying wires (the third is ground / shield on pin 1) is not happening. Check the cables

carefully because occasionally a cable gets modified to work with a certain unit and it seems to work but its wrong in other

situations. If only one side of the Massive Passive exhibits this problem, it may be a problem in the Massivo. See the next

item.

ONE SIDE WORKS FINE BUT THE OTHER SIDE IS DEAD - Let's assume this is not wiring. We are pretty sure it is

the Massivo. If it were solid state you would generally send it back for repair. Being a tube unit, you can probably find the

problem and fix it yourself in a few minutes. Not too many years ago, even your parents could "fix" their own stuff by taking

a bag of tubes down to the corner and checking the tubes on a tube tester - but these testers are hard to find today. A visual

inspection can usually spot a bad tube just as well. Be careful - there are some high voltages inside the chassis and tubes can

get pretty warm, but if you can replace a light bulb you should be able to cruise through this. Before you remove a tube, just

take a look at them powered up. They should glow a bit and they should be warm. If one is not, you have already found the

problem. The tube's filament (heater) is burnt out or broken like a dead light bulb. The other big visual symptom is a tube that

has turned milky white - that indicates air has gotten into the tube or we've joked "the vacuum leaked out". Either way replace

the tube. Manley can ship you a tested one for a reasonable price. Before you pull a tube, pull the power out, let the unit sit

and cool and discharge for a minute or two, then swap the new tube in, then power, then check. Gentle with those tubes, don't

bend the pins by trying to insert the tube not quite right. A little rocking of them as you pull them out or put them in helps.

The two taller tubes are the same so you can swap them. If the problem follows the tube you found the problem - a bad tube.

No soldering, no meters, one screwdriver - easy. See page 17 for a diagram of tube locations.

HUM - Once again - several possibilities - several cures. Most likely it is a ground loop. Ideally each piece of gear should

have one ground connection and only one. However, the short list of grounds include the AC mains plug, the chassis bolted

to a rack with other gear, each input and each output. The two most common procedures are: try a 3 pin to 2 pin AC adapter

(about a dollar at the hardware store).This while legal in many countries can be dangerous- We went one better; Method two

- On the back panel loosen the GROUND TERMINALS and slide the small metal ground strap to one side. This is way better

than "method one" because it is safer and removes another possible source - the chassis grounding via the rack. Method three

- cutting the shield on oneend of each cable. This is done by some studios at every female XLR to "break" all ground loops.

All the other gear in the rack is "dumping" ground noise onto the ground. Try removing the EQ from the rack so that it is not

touching any metal. You just may have cured a non-loop hum. Some gear radiates a magnetic field and some gear (especially

if it has audio transformers or inductors) might receive that hum. A little distance was all it took. The Massive Passive is full

of inductors and audio transformers which have the potential of hum pick-up from other units however they are run "hot" to

minimise this possibility. It is worth a few placement experiments if you notice hum especially in EQ mode (not bypass).

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

IT MAKES NOISES WHEN THE FRONT PANEL IS TAPPED - An easy one. Some tubes become microphonic over

time. That means they start acting like a bad microphone. Vibration has caused the supports for the little parts in the tube to

loosenandnowthetubeissensitivetovibration. Easy-Replacethetube. Whichone?Theonethatmakesthemostnoisewhen

you tap it. Usually this will be one of the smaller (gain stage) tubes closest to the front. The Massive Passive will have to be

on, connected and speakers up but not too loud for the sake of your speakers.

ITGOTHISSY-Alsoeasy.Thisisagainacommontubesymptom.Youcouldswaptubestofindthebadboy,butaneducated

guess is OK too. Generally the first tube in the path is the one with the most gain and dealing with the softest signals. The

usual suspect is the shorter tubes - the 5751/12AX7 voltage amplifiers. You may find that you need to choose the quietest

tube out of several of that type - like we do at the factory.

DISTORTION - This might be a tube. Swapping is a good way to find out. It may be a wiring thing or mismatch as well.

Wiring problems usually accompany the distortion with a major loss of signal. Mismatches are a bit tougher. The Massive

Passive has a high input impedance and low output impedance that can drive 600 ohm inputs of vintage "style" gear. Best

place to start is check your settings and meters. It may not be your first guess.

GETTING DISTORTION WHEN WE BOOST A LOT. No doubt. The Massive Passive by itself should have enough

headroom so that mega-boosts won't cause clipping in it, however, it can push out about +37dBv, 10 or 15 dB more than

most gear can accept without clipping. You're gonna have to turn something down, whether it is the signal feeding the EQ,

the "Gain Trims" on the EQ's front panel or the input levels of the next piece. That last option may not help if there is any

op-amps before its own volume control and unfortunately that is pretty common.

DC OR SOMETHING AT THE OUTPUT THAT IS INAUDIBLE - The 1/4" unbalanced outputs have a frequency

response that goes way down to below 1 Hz. A little very low frequency noise may be seen as speaker movement when

monitors are pushed to extreme levels. The XLRs do not exhibit this because the transformers filter below 8 Hz. Also the

unbalanced outputs do not like long cheap high capacitance cable. Occasionally a very high frequency oscillation (200 kHz

to 400 kHz) may occur in these conditions. Once again use the XLR outputs. Problem solved.

THE GAIN SEEMS OUT OF CALIBRATION - Wait a bit and see if it just needs to warm up. There are only two trimmers

inside and they are for adjusting the gain of the two channels up or down a few dB. More than that and you either have a bad

cable or bad tube.

Once in a while we get a call from a client with a "digital studio" with confusion about levels. They usually start out by using

the digital oscillator from their workstation and finding pegged VU meters the first place they look and they know it can't be

the workstation. Even a -6 level from their system pegs the meters. Some of you know already what 's going on. That -6 level

is referenced to "digital full scale" and the computer might have 18 or 18.5 or 20 dB of headroom built in. That -6 level on

the oscillator is actually a real world analog +12 or +14 and those VU meters don't really go much further than +3. There are

a few standards and plenty of exceptions. One standard is that normal (non-broadcast) VU meters are calibrated for 0VU =

+4 dBm =1.228 volts into 600 ohms (broadcast is sometimes +8dBm). Another standard is that CDs have a zero analog

reference that is -14 dB from digital full scale or maximum. This allows sufficient peak headroom for mixed material but

would be a bad standard for individual tracks because they would likely distort frequently. This is why digital workstations

use higher references like 18 and 20 - to allow for peaks on individual sounds. It may be too much in some cases and too little

in others. Add two other sources of confusion. Peak meters and VU meters will almost never agree - they are not supposed

to. A peak meter is intended to show the maximum level that can be recorded to a given medium. VU meters were designed

to show how loud we will likely hear a sound and help set record levels to analog tape. By help, we mean that they can be

only used as a guide combined with experience. They are kinda slow. Bright percussion may want to be recorded at - 10 on

aVUforanalogtapetobecleanbutadigitalrecordingusingagoodpeakmetershouldmakethemeterreadashighaspossible

without an "over". Here is the second confusion: There aren't many good peak meters. Almost all DATs have strange peak

metersthatdonotagreewithanothercompany'sDAT. Onecannottrustthemtotrulyindicatepeaksorovers. Outboarddigital

peak meters (with switchable peak hold) that indicate overs as 3 or 4 consecutive samples at either Full Scale Digital (FSD)

are the best. They won't agree with VU meters or Average meters or BBC Peak Programme (PPM) meters either. Each is a

different animal for different uses. When in doubt, use the recorder's meters when recording - they "should" be set up and

proper for that medium. Also important - if your DAC has gain trims, and these trims are "out" it can cause distortion,

confusion, and a variety of mis-matches. If you don't have calibration tapes or sources - get them, and if you do have them

- learn how to use them, and definately use them. Don't guess, especially if you suspect a significant problem. This is not the

type of thing "phone support" is usually good at finding. We have seen guys spend thousands on new gear only to find out

a little screwdriver trim would have solved their problems.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

MAINS CONNECTIONS

Your MASSIVE PASSIVE has been factory set to the correct mains voltage for your country.

The voltage setting is marked on the serial badge, located on the rear panel. Check that this

complies with your local supply.

Export units for certain markets have a moulded mains plug fitted to comply with local re-

quirements. If your unit does not have a plug fitted the coloured wires should be connected to

the appropriate plug terminals in accordance with the following code.

GREEN/YELLOW

BLUE

BROWN

EARTH

NEUTRAL

LIVE

As the colours of the wires in the mains lead may not correspond with the coloured marking

identifying the terminals in your plug proceed as follows;

The wire which is coloured GREEN/YELLOW must be connected to the terminal in the plug

which is marked by the letter E or by the safety earth symbol or coloured GREEN or GREEN

and YELLOW.

The wire which is coloured BLUE must be connected to the terminal in the plug which is

marked by the letter N or coloured BLACK.

The wire which is coloured BROWN must be connected to the terminal in the plug which is

marked by the letter L or coloured RED.

DO NOT CONNECT/SWITCH ON THE MAINS SUPPLY UNTIL ALL OTHER

CONNECTIONS HAVE BEEN MADE.

Note: This unit has been factory wired for your country. If you plan to take the unit to

countries with a different mains voltage you will need to send the Limiter to Manley Labs

for the correct power transformer - or use AC voltage converters. See page 17 to convert

this unit for a different mains voltage.

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

SPECIFICATIONS

MANLEY MASSIVE PASSIVE STEREO TUBE EQUALIZER

Maximum Input : 1.5% THD

+20 dBm

Maximum Output : 1.5% THD

Unbalanced: 20-20K

Balanced: 100 to 20K

Low Freq Saturation

Headroom (referenced to +4 dBm)

Eq boosted full 20 dB

+37 dBm

+26 @ 20 Hz

33 dB

flat

13 dB

THD & Noise (1kHz @ +4 dBm)

Frequency Response: +/- 2 dB

Noise Floor (refered to +4dBm)

Signal to Noise

.06%

8 Hz to 60 kHz

-85 dB (A Weight) (ref to +4 dBm)

120 dB typical (A Weight) (ref to +37 dBm)

20 K ohms

Input Impedance

Output Impedance

150 ohms

Power Consumption

Fuse

72 watts

600 mA @ 115VAC

2 Amp Slo-Blo (@120VAC)

19" x 5.25" x 10"

21 Lbs

1 Amp Slo-Blo (@240VAC)

Size (3U)

Actual Weight

Shipping Weight

27 Lbs

(preliminary specs & subject to change)

BLOCK DIAGRAM SHOWING SIGNAL FLOW

TRANSFORMER

BYPASS

TUBE GAIN

FILTERS

GAIN ADJ

BOOST

CUT

XLR

TRS

XLR

LOZ

LINE

TRIM

DRIVER

TRS

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

WARRANTY

All Manley Laboratories equipment is covered by a limited warranty against defects in materials and

workmanship for a period of 90 days from date of purchase to the original purchaser only. A further

optional limited 5 year transferrable warranty is available upon proper registration of ownership within

30 days of date of first purchase.

Proper registration is made by filling out and returning to the factory the warranty card attached to this

general warranty statement, along with a copy of the original sales receipt as proof of the original date

of purchase, or registration can be made online in the Tech Support section of www.manleylabs.com.

This warranty is provided by the dealer where the unit was purchased, and by Manley Laboratories,

Inc. Under the terms of the warranty defective parts will be repaired or replaced without charge,

excepting the cost of tubes. Vacuum tubes and meter or badge lamps are warranted for six months

provided the warranty registration is completed as outlined above.

If a Manley Laboratories product fails to meet the above warranty, then the purchaser's sole remedy

shall be to first obtain a Repair Authorisation from Manley Laboratories and return the product to

Manley Laboratories, where the defect will be repaired without charge for parts and labour. All returns

to the factory must be in the original packing, accompanied by the Repair Authorisation, and must be

shipped to Manley Laboratories via insured freight at the customer's own expense. Factory original

packaging can be ordered from Manley Labs. Customer will be charged for new factory original

packaging if customer fails to ship product to Manley Labs in the original factory packaging. After

repair, the product will then be returned to customer via prepaid, insured freight, method and carrier to

be determined solely by Manley Laboratories. Manley Laboratories will not pay for express or

overnight freight service nor will Manley Laboratories pay for shipments to locations outside the USA.

Charges for unauthorized service and transportation costs are not reimbursable under this warranty,

and all warrantees, express or implied, become null and void where the product has been damaged by

misuse, accident, neglect, modification, tampering or unauthorized alteration by anyone other than

Manley Laboratories.

The warrantor assumes no liability for property damage or any other incidental or consequental

damage whatsoever which may result from failure of this product. Any and all warrantees of

merchantability and fitness implied by law are limited to the duration of the expressed warranty. All

warrantees apply only to Manley Laboratories products purchased and used in the USA. All

warrantees apply only to Manley Laboratories products originally purchased from an authorised

Manley dealer. Warranties for Manley Laboratories products purchased outside the USA will be

covered by the Manley Importer for that specific country or region. "Grey Market" purchases are not

covered by any warranty. In the case that a Manley Laboratories product must be returned to the

factory from outside the USA, customer shall adhere to specific shipping, customs, and commercial

invoicing instructions given with the Return Authorisation as Manley Laboratories will not be

responsible for transportation costs or customs fees related to any importation or re-exportation

charges whatsoever.

Some states do not allow limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts, so the above limitations

may not apply to you. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or

consequential damages, so the above exclusion may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific

legal rights and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state.

For Tech Support and Repair Authorisation, please contact:

MANLEY LABORATORIES, INC.

13880 MAGNOLIA AVE.

CHINO, CA. 91710 USA

TEL: (909) 627-4256

FAX: (909) 628-2482

email: [email protected]

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

WARRANTY REGISTRATION

We ask, grovel and beg that you please fill out this registration form and send the bottom half to:

MANLEY LABORATORIES

REGISTRATION DEPARTMENT

13880 MAGNOLIA AVE.

CHINO CA, 91710 USA

Or you may FAX this form in to: +1 (909) 628-2482 or you may fill in the online warranty

registration form found in the Tech Support section of our website www.manleylabs.com or you can

be really diligent and register your warranty three times to see if we get confused!

Registration entitles you to product support, full warranty benefits, and notice of product

enhancements and upgrades, even though it doesn't necessarily mean that you will get them (Just

kidding!) You MUST complete and return the following to validate your warranty and registration.

Thank you again for choosing Manley gear and reading all the way through The Owner's Manual.

(We really mean that sincerely, the bit about thanking you for choosing our gear. THANK YOU!!!)

MODEL _______________ SERIAL #__________________

PURCHASE DATE ______________ SUPPLIER ______________________

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLEASE DETACH THIS PORTION AND SEND IT TO MANLEY LABORATORIES

MODEL _______________ SERIAL #__________________

PURCHASE DATE ______________ SUPPLIER ______________________

NAME OF OWNER _______________________________________________

ADDRESS ______________________________________________________

CITY, STATE, ZIP ________________________________________________

EMAIL: ________________________________________________________

TELEPHONE NUMBER___________________________________________

COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS?__________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

This Preset is a great example of how:

to drive the unit hard for a little THD warmth

to mess up somebody who studies your settings

the Massive Passive is different from other EQs

22 1K

OUT

82 3K9

OUT

220 10K

OUT

560 27K

OUT

22 1K

OUT

82 3K9

OUT

220 10K

OUT

560 27K

OUT

BOOST

CUT

SHELF

BELL

BOOST

CUT

SHELF

BELL

BOOST

CUT

SHELF

BELL

BOOST

CUT

SHELF

BELL

BOOST

CUT

SHELF

BELL

BOOST

CUT

BOOST

CUT

BOOST

CUT

SHELF

BELL

MANLEY

POWER

BELL

GAIN

-6

BANDWIDTH

LOW

12K

PASS

18K

OFF

18K

OFF

7K5

FREQUENCY

150

FREQUENCY

560

390

FREQUENCY

1K5

FREQUENCY

3K9

2K7

FREQUENCY

150

FREQUENCY

560

390

FREQUENCY

1K5

FREQUENCY

3K9

2K7

100

220

820

2K2

100

220

820

2K2

5K6

HIGH

PASS

120

220

120

220

270

180

1K2

1K8

680

470

330

3K3

4K7

1K8

1K2

820

270

180

1K2

1K8

680

470

330

3K3

4K7

1K8

1K2

820

330

470

8K2

12K

330

470

8K2

12K

OFF

680

120

2K7

120

2K7

6K8

16K

6K8

16K

3K9

220

560

27K

220

560

27K

10K

MASSIVE PASSIVE

STEREO EQUALIZER

Set this one up with no signal and guess what it will sound like by the panel settings and your experience with other EQs

Try adjusting both high band dB knobs to your needs. For some situations the Low Pass filter can be bypassed.

More presets to do ........

Download from Www.Somanuals.com. All Manuals Search And Download.

Lenovo Computer Drive 9300 User Manual
LG Electronics Amplified Phone IP LDK 20 User Manual
Lincoln Automobile 2009 MKX User Manual
Logitech Computer Keyboard 920004569 User Manual
Lucent Technologies Switch Lucent Compact Switch User Manual
Lux Products Thermostat CH200SA User Manual
Manitowoc Ice Surge Protector 4004489 User Manual
Mazda Automobile 2008 3 4 DOOR User Manual
Melissa Vacuum Cleaner 640 060 User Manual
Metra Electronics Automobile Accessories 70 2103T User Manual